Royals Win, 4-1, Put Angels Deep in Texas, Trouble

Now, with three games remaining in the regular season, the Angels need help.

They need help from the Oakland A’s. They need help from the nearest blood bank.

The California attack is suffering from anemia. . . . borderline paralysis.

Even a transfusion may not help. Three games in Texas? That may not help either.

Shut out on three hits by Bud Black Wednesday night, the Angels were shut out for another 8 innings Thursday night, ultimately losing another “must” game, 4-1, to fall one game behind the Royals in the American League West.

Kansas City, trailing by a game when the four-game series began, did what it had to do, winning three while scoring no more than four runs in any of the four games.

The Angels, who have lost 7 of their last 10 games, had been shut out for 21 straight innings when they scored with two out in the ninth Thursday night.

Manager Gene Mauch, who had promised in early September to stay with his ‘A’ lineup, benched Reggie Jackson in this one and went with his ‘B’ (or maybe ‘C’) alignment.

It had all the substance of alphabet soup. Left-hander Danny Jackson, a loser of three straight decisions and five of his last six, scattered 10 singles before Bobby Grich tripled in a run in the ninth, and Dan Quisenberry ultimately registered his 36th save by striking out Juan Beniquez, who represented the potential tying run.

Don Sutton, making mistakes of the type that sophomore Jackson might have been expected to make, yielded a two-run homer to Frank White in the first, a solo homer to Steve Balboni in the fourth and a solo homer to George Brett in the fifth.

Sutton will pitch the one-game playoff here Monday if the Angels and Royals end the regular season in a tie, but both Oakland and Texas have to cooperate.

The A’s must win at least one of their three games with the Royals while the Angels are sweeping the Rangers, who are last in the West but have won 9 of their last 13 games.

“We better play like hell in Texas and pull like hell for Oakland,” Manager Gene Mauch said. “We’re still in it, but I don’t like the idea of needing help from someone else.

“This wasn’t in the plan, at all. We wanted to leave here as the boss. I honestly didn’t think the Royals could win three from us, but they did.”

The Royals won an overall 9 of 13 games this season from the Angels, restricting California to a team batting average of .223. The Angels were shut out three times by the Royals and limited to one run in six other games.

“Only three things have really bothered me this season,” Mauch said. “One is that we didn’t match up well against Kansas City pitching. Two is that we didn’t match up well against the Yankees’ pitching. Three is that we had to make up the two strike dates in Seattle (they were originally scheduled for Anaheim).

“I said last night that I was bewildered by the way Kansas City contained our bats, and I meant it sincerely.

“I know that the Kansas City rotation is good, but the celestial all-stars couldn’t do what the Kansas City pitchers have done to us.”

The celestial all-stars?

“Yes,” Mauch said. “Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Mordecai Brown and Grover Cleveland Alexander.”

The Angels had gained a split against Bret Saberhagen and Charlie Leibrandt in the first two games of this series, but the struggling Black and Jackson displayed a celestial glow.

It was nothing new for Danny Jackson, who had split his two previous decisions with the Angels this season, allowing only two earned run in 15 innings.

This time, he forced the Angels to strand seven, induced key double plays out of Beniquez and Grich in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, watched Willie Wilson race to the fence in dead center to make an overhead catch of Doug DeCinces’ extra-base bid with two on and two out in the eighth, then led a post-game parade of Royals congratulating relief ace Quisenberry.

Jackson, 23, emerged with a 14-12 record. The Angels had tried to beat him without the left-handed hitting Ruppert Jones, who has 2 hits in his last 32 at-bats; without Gary Pettis, who aggravated a sprained wrist while taking batting practice, and without the slumping Mr. October.

“Reggie is struggling right now,” Mauch said. “I think a day off will be beneficial to him and to us. He wants to be part of it. He wants to make a contribution. It hurts him when he doesn’t, but he’s fatigued mentally.

“He’s as low as I’ve seen him since ’83.”

Jackson, who ultimately drew a walk as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, denied being that low or that much a victim of fatigue.

“I didn’t expect not to be in there,” he said, “but when you’re 3 for 40, it shouldn’t be a shock.”

Jackson actually has 3 hits in his last 34 at-bats. He is batting .207 against left-handers and was 1 for 7 against the Royals’ Jackson this season.

“I think it’s natural to be disappointed,” he said, alluding to Mauch’s decision, “but I’m not bitching. Gene talked to me about it. He’s always told me in a professional way, but I don’t always professionally agree.”

Of a lineup that included Darrell Miller (who singled twice) in right and Rufino Linares (who singled and scored the only run) as the designated hitter, Mauch said: “We got it started several times, but we couldn’t drop anything big on (Danny) Jackson.”

It was the Royals who dropped the bombs.

Sutton struck out the first two batters he faced before cautiously walking Brett on four pitches.

He then had a 1-and-2 count on White when he hung a curve that White deposited in the left-field bullpen for his 22nd home run.

Sutton had a similar count on Balboni when he hung another curve. Balboni turned it into his 36th home run, a 415-foot shot to dead center.

Brett made it look like a pop-up. He jumped on a 3-and-1 fastball for his 28th homer and third of the series. The ball landed on the grass bank above the center-field fence, an estimated 450 feet away.

Mauch said: “Sutton threw three pitches that he would have liked to run up there and grab before White, Balboni and Brett jumped on them.”

Sutton agreed.

“I didn’t give us a chance,” he said, “I made three glaring mistakes that put us in a jam early and took us out of our game plan. It’s very much a disappointment, though not so much personally. I’ve lost around 220 games. What’s one more? I hurt for the team. It had entrusted me with the responsibility, and I didn’t live up to it.”

The Angels, of course, are not dead, but as Balboni noted: “It’s in our hands now.”

Said DeCinces: “When you dominate the season and then come down to the end having to hope someone can help you, that’s hard to swallow. But the season isn’t over. I’ve seen crazier things happen.”

Angel Notes Manager Gene Mauch had a pregame meeting designed to remind his team that the game should be fun, but it wasn’t. . . . Bobby Grich, on the Royals’ pitching: “Every one of their five starters can throw it over 90 m.p.h. They don’t walk anyone. They don’t fall behind in the count. They don’t hang breaking balls. They’re consistent. It’s no wonder they win a lot of games.” . . . George Brett batted .361 (13 for 36) against the Angels this year and was 6 for 13 with 3 home runs and 6 RBIs in the series. Brett served as the designated hitter Thursday night because of a slight ligament strain in his left ankle. . . . Owner Gene Autry is expected to join the Angels in Texas today.