Angels Win, 4-2, but Mauch Is Not Saying Too Much

The man with a microphone was finished. He had failed to get Gene Mauch to say the race in the American League West was finished, too.

The Angel manager watched him leave his clubhouse office, then said: “I couldn’t say what he wanted me to say. I couldn’t say we’re in the driver’s seat. I couldn’t say that Kansas City has to win the next two.

“I mean, I’ve been through all this before, remember.

“I spent too many years in Philadelphia to say the things he wanted me to say.”

Mauch learned his lesson in 1964. The memory of the Phillies’ collapse that year will always be with him. The Angels helped keep it in the recesses of his mind by defeating Kansas City, 4-2, Tuesday night on a combined six-hitter by Mike Witt and Donnie Moore.

There are five games left in the 1985 regular season. The Angels, with three wins in their last eight games, again hold a one-game lead over Kansas City.

No predictions, only a sense of relief.

The Angels had rebounded from Bret Saberhagen’s overpowering win in the series opener to defeat the Royals’ next-best starter, Charlie Leibrandt.

“The last thing we wanted to do was come in here with a lead and be behind in two days,” Mauch said. “You bet this was important.”

The Royals came in believing they had to win three of the four games in the series. They came in believing that they couldn’t let the Angels go to Texas with a lead. They seemed to be saying that they couldn’t expect the Rangers to prevent a three-game sweep.

Must the Royals win the next two from the Angels?

“I don’t think we’ll chuck it in if we lose tomorrow,” Manager Dick Howser said, “but it would make it very difficult.

“We have to beat the Angels. I don’t think a veteran team is going to lose it (in Texas), though I still think it’s a disadvantage to them to have to finish on the road. I still like the fact that we’re playing at home.”

The Royals, however, will have to get it done with two troubled pitchers.

Left-hander Bud Black, who faces Ron Romanick (14-8) tonight, has lost 12 of his last 16 decisions en route to a 9-15 record. Left-hander Danny Jackson, who faces Don Sutton (15-9) in the series finale, has lost five of his last six en route to a 13-12 record.

Pitching, however, isn’t Howser’s concern.

“I can’t make too much out of the fact that we play the rest of our schedule at home,” he said, “because we haven’t been hitting here or anywhere else.”

The Royals have lost 10 of their last 15 games, averaging less than three runs per game.

Saberhagen needed only three runs. Leibrandt, who was 17-8 overall and 7-2 in his last 10 starts, needed more.

Witt and Moore prevented him from getting it, burying some unhappy memories of Cleveland--and the Indians.

Now 14-9, Witt had made each of his last two starts against the Indians. He pitched only three-plus innings in both, allowing a total of 12 hits and 11 earned runs. His failure Friday night at Cleveland had raised Mauch’s ire. He criticized Witt for dumb mistakes, a lack of concentration.

He also took advantage of the fact that Witt had made only 39 pitches by juggling his rotation to start Witt here on three days’s rest, meaning he will have a full four days if he is needed to pitch Sunday’s season finale at Texas.

“It’s easy to say this now,” Mauch said, “but with three days’ rest that’s the best stuff he’s had in six or seven weeks. It looked to me like the left-handers were flinching against him, which means the ball was getting there a trifle quicker.”

Said Bobby Grich, who gave Witt an early lead with a solo homer in the second: “I could tell from the start that he was a whole new pitcher. He wasn’t nibbling, he wasn’t timid. He asserted himself physically and mentally.”

Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann agreed.

“He had good stuff each of those last two times,” Lachemann said, “but he got careless. He warmed up super tonight and took it into the game. When he’s got that kind of stuff, he’s got to stay down and stay after ‘em, which is what he did.”

One year and one day earlier Witt had ended the 1984 season by pitching a perfect game against Texas. He retired the first 10 Royals in this one, took a three-hit shutout into the eighth, then had a 4-0 lead cut to 4-2 on a pinch-hit single by Pat Sheridan, a Willie Wilson triple and a single by George Brett.

The call went to Moore, appearing for the first time since he squandered a 5-0, eighth-inning lead Saturday in Cleveland, the Angels losing, 7-5.

There was a runner at first with two out when Moore got Jorge Orta on a fly to center. He then retired the Royals in order in the ninth, striking out Frank White and Omar Moreno for his 30th save.

“I don’t dwell on my great games,” Moore said later, “and I don’t dwell on failure either. I don’t like it, but I can handle it. I had pretty much forgotten Cleveland, but it did feel good to come back and get somebody out, especially here, where we’ve had some tough times.”

Mauch had helped Moore forget Cleveland, reminding him in a private conversation that he had been hit hard in his first appearance with the Angels, then was virtually flawless over the remainder of the first half.

“We really just talked about it,” Mauch said. “He didn’t need reminding. He had tried to go beyond himself in Cleveland as he had when he made his debut with us. He knew it and knew what to do about it. He brought some kind of stuff with him tonight.”

Leibrandt had displayed his stuff in a three-hit, 6-0 victory over the Angels on Sept. 10.

Grich guessed right on a change-up and shattered some of Leibrandt’s invincibility with his 13th homer. The Angels then won it with a three-run fifth.

Dick Schofield singled. Gary Pettis bunted and reached first when second baseman White, covering the bag, dropped a low throw from Leibrandt. Brian Downing flared a double into the right-field corner to score one run. Rod Carew, celebrating his 40th birthday, looped a single to left to drive in another. Then Downing ultimately scored on an infield single by Doug DeCinces.

The Angels went hitless over the final four innings, but they had opened some breathing room over the Royals and they had put a little more distance between Mauch and Philadelphia.

Angel Notes

Does Anyone Really Care Dept.: The three-game September series between the Angels and Royals at Anaheim drew 100,407, an average of only 33,469 in a stadium that seats approximately 65,000. The first two games here have averaged only 30,237 in a stadium that seats approximately 42,300. . . . Catcher Bob Boone, 37, will start his 146th game tonight, tying his career-high, recorded with Philadelphia in 1974, when he was 26. . . . Tickets for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the playoffs, which would be played at Anaheim if the Angels get that far, go on sale Thursday at Gate 3. Fans will be allowed to line up today. Cash only. . . . Series preparations: The Kansas City pitchers took batting practice Tuesday night.