Romanick Mystifies Seattle With 2-Hitter

Until Wednesday, no Angel pitcher had thrown a shutout since last Sept. 19, when John Candelaria blanked the Chicago White Sox. Wednesday was also the day Candelaria underwent elbow surgery that will sideline him for at least two months.

The Angels won’t be minting any commemorative coins, but they did mark the occasion in their own way.

Ron Romanick threw another shutout, a two-hitter at that. Limiting Seattle to a pair of singles, Romanick defeated the Mariners, 4-0, in front of an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 22,510, a performance that ranks as Romanick’s personal best.

Romanick (2-0) had a no-hitter for 5 innings before Ivan Calderon grounded a single through the left side of the infield. Seattle’s only other hit was a line drive to left by Gorman Thomas in the ninth.

It was the first two-hitter of Romanick’s career. Previously, he had pitched a three-hitter against the New York Yankees in 1984. He completed this mission in 135 pitches (81 strikes), striking out six while walking five.

The Mariners were quick to praise Romanick.

“He had good command of his five pitches,” Thomas said.

Five pitches? At last count, Romanick had a repertory of four: Fastball, cut slider, curveball and change-up.

“If he thinks I have five, let him think that,” Romanick said. Romanick then alluded, possibly tongue-in-cheek, to developing “a mystery pitch.”

“The mystery pitch is something I picked up this week and it’s made a big difference in my pitching philosophy.”

And that’s all Romanick would say about it.

“He had as good a command of all his pitches as any pitcher can have,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said. “He only made two mistakes all night.”

The first, according to Mauch, was a fourth-inning pitch to Alvin Davis that Davis rifled into the left-center field alley. It seemed to have home run depth--off the top of the fence for extra bases, at least.

But that was before Brian Downing dented another wall. Leaping and crashing into the 370-feet sign, Downing reached up and backhanded the ball, pulling it down as he landed on his back. It was a Gary Pettis-caliber catch.

Only this time, Pettis was there to do the applauding.

Romanick’s second mistake, in Mauch’s view, was Thomas’ single in the ninth. Seattle’s first hit, the one that ruined the no-hitter, wasn’t much to brag about.

It was a squib shot between third baseman Doug DeCinces and shortstop Rick Burleson. Burleson ran to his right, reached down but could only wave at the ball. The ball made it to the outfield grass. It was a clean hit.

Burleson stopped two other potential singles in the eighth inning. He went deep into the hole to erase Domingo Ramos, testing his shoulder with a long, strong throw that might have caused some wincing on the Angel bench. The next play, Burleson was back it, racing toward second and throwing out speedy Danny Tartabull at first.

“Burley’s two great plays really helped,” Romanick said. “And Brian’s catch shocked the hell out of me. I didn’t think he’d make the catch because the ball really jumped. But Brian will knock a wall down if he has to.”

Romanick wasn’t alone in his surprise over Downing’s catch.

“I didn’t think about robbing a home run because I can’t jump anymore,” Downing said.

“It was a one-run situation with a man on first and two out. I didn’t want the ball to get by me, so I was playing a few steps deeper than normal. That was the difference.”

The Angels led, 1-0, at the time, thanks to Wally Joyner’s first-inning home run.

They added to their advantage with two runs in the fourth inning and another in the seventh.

In the fourth, Downing drove home Ruppert Jones, who had singled, with a line-drive sacrifice fly to center. Rob Wilfong made it 3-0 by singling to right with Reggie Jackson on second.

Burleson’s seven-game hitting streak came to an end as he went 0 for 2, but he helped set up the Angels’ final run. Wilfong walked to open the seventh and took second on Burleson’s sacrifice bunt.

Bob Boone followed with a comebacker to the pitcher, Billy Swift, who grabbed the ball and ran toward shortstop, catching Wilfong in a rundown. Swift chased Wilfong back toward second and tossed the ball to shortstop Domingo Ramos, who then chased Wilfong toward third.

But Ramos forgot to take the ball with him. By dropping Swift’s throw, Ramos allowed Wilfong to advance to third. From there, Wilfong scored on an infield single to third by Pettis.

Mystery pitch? Virtually all of them were mysteries to the Mariners Wednesday night.

Angel Notes

John Candelaria underwent what team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum described as “very successful” arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow Wednesday. Yocum removed bone-spur fragments and old scar tissue from an operation Candelaria underwent in 1981, and reported no further tendon damage. Because an arthroscope is relatively minor surgery, Yocum said the original two-month recovery prognosis for Candelaria, which had been considered optimistic Tuesday, now looks more realistic. . . . In his first two starts of 1986, Don Sutton has lasted four-plus innings and two-thirds of an inning, allowing 14 hits and 12 earned runs. His earned-run average is 23.14. Said Bob Boone, who was the Angels’ catcher Tuesday when Sutton yielded eight runs in less than an inning: “He did not have real good stuff and he hung it all. (The Mariners) did not let us get away with any mistakes at all. I’m not really concerned. His first start, he had excellent stuff. He struck out seven and was as good as he can be on his first outing. His problem there was that he got too fine. He had such good stuff, he was trying to make the perfect pitch. When he got behind on the count and didn’t make the perfect pitch, that’s when he had some trouble.”

Noting the Angels’ mad scramble to find some left-handed pitching, right-hander Ron Romanick said he wished he’d been brought up throwing with a different arm. “If a young kid throws hard and is left-handed, he can make a good deal for himself,” Romanick said. “Left-handers are a real hot commodity right now. They’re so hard to find. It’s been weird. Growing up as a fan, I remember all kinds of hard-throwing left-handers. Now, you don’t see it anymore.” Romanick said the lack of quality left-handed pitching can be seen in the American League batting statistics. “Most of the top hitters in the league are left-handed--Boggs, Mattingly, Brett,” Romanick said. “They definitely have an advantage. They see right-handers all the time. They may see a left-handed pitcher once a month.” . . . The Angels open a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins tonight. Kirk McCaskill (1-0) opposes Frank Viola (1-1).