He Wasn’t Perfect, but Witt Was Good Enough : Angel Pitcher Had Something to Prove This Time After Two Weak Outings

One year and one day ago, Michael Atwater Witt had his day in the Texas sun--staring down 27 Texas Ranger batters and leaving them all high and dry. It was an afternoon of absolute perfection, the moment of a career and of a lifetime.

One day following the first anniversary of major league baseball’s 13th perfect game, Witt was at it again. Nine straight Kansas City Royals had made their way to home plate against Witt Tuesday night--and nine straight had returned to the dugout with a depreciated batting average.

Seems like we’ve been this way before. Any flashbacks for Witt as he toed the rubber on the Royals Stadium pitching mound?

Well, yes . . . and no.

The three perfect innings did evoke some memories for Witt, although not of Sept. 30, 1984 at Arlington.

Sept. 27, 1985 in Cleveland was more like it.

“The only thing I flashed back to was my last game in Cleveland, when I pitched three perfect innings, then gave up five hits and got ripped,” Witt said. Witt threw just 39 pitches in that one, failing to get an out in the fourth inning en route to a 7-3 Angel loss.

Go back to Witt’s previous start, also against Cleveland, and you’ll see more of the same: three strong innings and then--meltdown. Again, Witt didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.

A trend was starting to develop here, which Witt was keenly aware of as he readied to face the Royals in the bottom of the fourth. Forget the history and what happened on that memorable day in 1984.

Witt just wanted to see the fifth inning again.

His no-hit bid ended after the 10th straight out, with Willie Wilson beating out a slow roller to third base. Witt also walked the next batter, George Brett.

But he ended the inning by getting Jorge Orta to fly to center field and striking out Frank White.

The fourth inning had been weathered . . . and Witt could breath easy again.

“As soon as I got back to the dugout,” Witt said, “I told Lach (pitching coach Marcel Lachemann) that the monkey was off my back.”

Shortly after, the Royals followed. The Angels wriggled free from their one-day tie for first place in the American League West with Kansas City, downing the Royals, 4-2, behind 7 impressive innings by Witt.

Witt had a three-hit shutout for seven innings before his right shoulder, bothered by tendinitis the past two months, began to act up in the eighth. He started getting the ball up, too, and the Royals mounted a mini-rally, scoring twice and creating the need for Angel Manager Gene Mauch to bring on reliever Donnie Moore to finish matters.

Witt wound up with a six-hitter and his 14th victory in 23 decisions. The Angels wound up with a one-game lead over Kansas City with five to play.

“This is very gratifying,” Witt said. “To come back like this, after getting ripped my two previous games.”

Because he had been ripped at Cleveland Sunday, Witt became the focal point of the first potential controversy in this Missouri showdown. Mauch decided to shake up his pitching rotation, moving Tuesday’s regularly scheduled starter, Ron Romanick, back and day and replacing him with Witt.

Mauch had done the same thing in the 1982 playoffs, pitching Tommy John in Game 5 with only three days rest. Game 5 turned out to be the last game of the season for the Angels.

Tuesday, Mauch decided to risk the second-guess.

“You know how I feel about second-guessers,” Mauch said. “They’re people who need two chances to be right once.

“The only thing I can tell you is that, after talking it over with our coaches for a long time, it was too logical not to do it. We want Mike to pitch the last game in Texas (this Sunday). Suppose Mike had this kind of game on Wednesday, throwing 120 pitches. He’d have to pitch Sunday with only 2 1/2 days’ rest.

“Now, we go with him tonight with three days rest after throwing just 39 pitches on Sunday. It was just too logical not to do it.”

Logic alone does not always win baseball games. But this time, Mauch’s tinkering worked.

“It’s easy to say now,” Mauch said, “but this is the best stuff Mike’s had in six or seven weeks. I could see that their left-handed hitters were flinching a little bit up there against him. That tells me the ball was getting there a trifle faster than they were expecting.

“Maybe,” Mauch added with a grin, “he should’ve been pitching with three days’ rest all his life.”