Reggie Is Right On in 8-7 Win

The laws of nature took a beating at the Metrodome this weekend. One night, the roof nearly collapses. The next day, Reggie Jackson starts in right field.

Separate phenomenons, yes, but Jackson saw a possible cosmic connection.

“Maybe that’s why they put me out there,” he said after the Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-7, before 15,126 fans Sunday and after storm winds fewer than 17 hours earlier had turned the Metrodome’s roof into an inverted trampoline. “They didn’t want to take a chance on getting anybody hurt who counted.”

Or maybe Angel Manager Gene Mauch, having flimflammed the fates with an implausible six-run ninth-inning rally Saturday night, decided to work the Metrodome like a Las Vegas casino. You’re on a roll, baby. Up the ante and let it ride.

Turning Jackson loose in this pinball machine of a ballpark may be the ultimate gamble, but the Angels and Jackson survived. Thrived, even.

Making his first start of the season in right field, Jackson caught the only ball hit his way. He also hit safely his first three times at the plate--finishing with a double and two singles in five at-bats.

Jackson has always insisted he hits better when he plays in the field. Maybe he has a point. As a designated hitter, he is mired at .429.

“I told Gene that if he played me in right, I’d hit .600,” Jackson said with a grin after raising his league-leading average to .447.

Jackson in right wasn’t the only surprise of the day for the Angels. Imagine this:

--Rick Burleson at third base, making the first start of his career there. Burleson was a late entry in Mauch’s lineup when Doug DeCinces complained of minor discomfort in his back.

--Jerry Narron batting fifth in the order, although he didn’t stay there long. Narron had a first-inning sacrifice fly but left in the second when the Twins changed pitchers and Mauch sent up Brian Downing to pinch-hit. “Great day off I gave Downing, huh?” Mauch cracked.

--Ruppert Jones, batting .121 through the first 15 games, collecting three hits, including his second two-run homer in two days.

--The Angels blowing a 5-0 lead, rallying to take an 8-5 advantage and finally holding off the Twins by a run.

--T.R. Bryden, winless in his first four appearances, winning his first major league decision Saturday night and following it up with No. 2 on Sunday.

Just another lazy afternoon in the Metrodome.

Bryden, who worked five innings in relief of starter Ron Romanick, allowed four hits and two runs while striking out four. He called this win more gratifying than his first, when he just happened to be at the right place at the the right time--a comeback that is likely to go down as one of the Angels’ best of 1986.

“This one was a little more fun,” Bryden said. “I pitched longer and had better stuff. Last night, I just was in there one inning.”

But Bryden will never forget his first big league victory, either.

He was on the mound Saturday night when the Metrodome couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be an indoor or an outdoor stadium.

“I turned around and everyone was running off the field,” Bryden said. “There was only one out at the time. I said, ‘What’s going on?’

“Then I looked up and saw the speakers and the lights swaying. I knew that roof is held up by air. I got off the field, too.”

Bryden belongs to a select group of pitchers who weren’t terrorized by the Dome over the weekend. Sunday’s starters, Romanick and Mike Smithson, didn’t make it past the second inning.

Smithson lasted just four outs. He gave up two runs in the first inning and opened the second by surrendering a home run to Bob Boone and a one-out double to Gary Pettis. Minnesota Manager Ray Miller, his team already three runs behind, went to the bullpen--so you know he considered the situation serious.

First up was Pete Filson. Filson’s first pitch made it 5-0 as Jones deposited it over the right-field fence for a two-run home run. Filson then hit Wally Joyner with a pitch and gave up a single to Jackson. He then left the game.

In came LeRoy Smith, who got the Twins out of the second and third innings but broke down in the fourth. Jones had a check-swing single through the right side of the infield and stole second. Jackson singled him in. Rob Wilfong doubled Jackson in. And Burleson singled Wilfong in.

That would be all for the Angels--and it would be enough, although the Twins managed to make them nervous.

Minnesota knocked Romanick out in the second with five runs, courtesy of a three-run homer by Mark Salas and a two-run shot by Kirby Puckett. The homer was one of four hits for Puckett, who has batted safely in 11 straight games.

Bryden entered the game in the third inning and pitched through the seventh. He allowed two runs in the fifth when Puckett singled, Mickey Hatcher doubled and both scored on infield outs.

In the last two innings, Mauch fiddled with his bullpen.

He brought on Terry Forster in the eighth to face one batter, Kent Hrbek, whom Forster struck out. Then, Mauch went to Donnie Moore, who recorded the final five outs for his fourth save.

Angel Notes

Gene Mauch scratched Doug DeCinces from the starting lineup as a precautionary measure. “He told me there was just enough sensation there (in his back) that we ought to be careful,” Mauch said. So, Rick Burleson made only his third appearance ever at third base and his first since September of 1974 . . . Bobby Grich was also given the day off, with a right-handed pitcher starting for the Twins and Grich’s right thumb still hurting. . . . In the fifth inning, Gary Pettis stole his fourth base of the season and his first since April 18. He has been caught stealing five times. . . . After the weekend, Twin fans had a better understanding of why local legend Rod Carew is currently unemployed. Joyner went 7 for 12 during the three-game series, including the game-winning home run Saturday. In three weeks, Joyner has three game-winning hits; in all of 1985, Carew had four. Joyner also has five home runs. Last season, the Angels’ first base position produced a total of seven home runs--Carew two, Juan Beniquez four and Bobby Grich one. . . . With the Twin bullpen in worse shape than the stadium’s roof, Minnesota on Sunday signed free-agent pitcher Frank Pastore, who had been released by Cincinnati during the spring and rejected by the Angels in a tryout last week. Pastore was 2-1 with a 3.83 earned-run average at Cincinnati last year. To make room for Pastore, the Twins assigned relief pitcher Dennis Burtt to Toledo. Burtt, a graduate of Villa Park High School and Santa Ana College, had allowed seven earned runs in two innings . . . The Angels are off today and begin a three-game series in Toronto on Tuesday. Kirk McCaskill (2-1) is scheduled to face Dave Stieb (0-3) in the opener.