Barfield’s Homer in Eighth Defeats the Angel ‘Pen Pals

The tag team of the Angel bullpen, Terry Forster and Donnie Moore, finally got pinned Wednesday night. Unbloodied and unbeaten through their first two weeks as a partnership, they were at last shown the turnbuckle in a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays before an Exhibition Stadium crowd of 18,171.

The mission was the same as always: to protect a lead in the late innings. The order of appearance was also the same: Forster to keep the foe at bay, then Moore to close the game out.

It had worked to perfection five times out of five. For Manager Gene Mauch, it was getting as easy as picking up the bullpen phone. Reach out and beat someone.

But Dial-a-Victory got disconnected in Toronto on eighth-inning singles by Willie Upshaw and George Bell and a three-run homer by Jesse Barfield. Forster gave up Upshaw’s one-out single, then Moore gave up Bell’s single and Barfield’s booming home run.

Like that, a 4-3 Angel lead was turned to dust, and a three-game Angel winning streak was history.

“I have so much confidence in them,” Mauch said of his two relief pitchers, “I’m surprised when things go wrong. “(Forster) was going to pitch to two hitters. That would leave four outs for Donnie.

“It sounded like a good idea.”

But there was a bug in the system on this evening. Things began to bog down after Forster, replacing starter Mike Witt in the bottom of the eighth, got pinch-hitter Garth Iorg to foul out for the first out.

That brought up Upshaw, who hit a chopper into the artificial turf to the left of the mound. Shortstop Rick Burleson raced in, gloved the ball and made a hurried throw to first. It was a tough play but one that Burleson said he could have made.

This time, he wasn’t close. His throw was up the line, skipping past a sprawling Wally Joyner at first base. Upshaw was safe. The official scorer ruled it an infield single.

At that point, Mauch decided to switch pitchers, as was his predesigned plan. Moore had produced five saves and one victory in his last six appearances. But Wednesday night, Moore had less.

The first batter Moore faced, Bell, singled. The second, Barfield, cleared the fence in right-center field.

Three-run home run. For the first time this season, Forster and Moore had gone down for the count.

“That’s not going to work all the time,” said Moore (1-1). “You saw that tonight. You know anybody who can do it every night? I don’t.

“We’re on a good streak. You can’t win them all. I’ll take six or seven good outings for every bad one the rest of the season.”

Moore said he threw a mistake to Barfield--a rising fastball, up in the strike zone. He said he has felt in better condition than on Wednesday night, which marked his fourth appearance in four games.

“I felt decent, but not as good as (Tuesday) night,” he said. “I figured I’d be in there for an inning, but I got the call a little early. When that phone rings, you answer it.”

Forster, meanwhile, would have preferred if that call had never been made.

“I pitch to finish,” he said angrily, sitting on a stool in front of his locker. “I pitch mean when I get the ball. I don’t care how many innings it takes--I’m in there to get the final out. That’s how I think.

“To me, giving up the ball is the toughest thing in the world. When (the manager) asks for it, it tells you one of two things--that he doesn’t have confidence in you or you’re not doing the job. I’m there to do the job. If I didn’t think I could get ‘em out, I’d quit.”

Forster stopped short of second-guessing Mauch.

“He’s the manager,” Forster said. “I don’t like it, but he’s paid to make those decisions. Since I’ve been here, we’ve won eight (five games, actually) the way he did it tonight. This time, we didn’t. That’s baseball.”

The breakdown in the bullpen wasted a handful of notable performances by the Angels, namely:

--Burleson, who went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and hit his first home run in five years. His solo shot off Doyle Alexander (3-1) in the seventh inning gave the Angels a 4-3 advantage. Burleson’s last home run came against Kansas City’s Larry Gura on Sept. 9, 1981.

--Mike Witt, who struck out nine in seven innings, while allowing three runs on six hits.

--Brian Downing, who made a spectacular leaping catch to help bail Witt out of the seventh inning. Lloyd Moseby drove the ball to the wall, but Downing backhanded it at the top of the fence, bobbled it, then landed on his feet with it.

That near-miss may have been enough to persuade Mauch to make a pitching change, but the manager wouldn’t get specific.

“That was about as well as he’s pitched against this club,” Mauch said of Witt. “He threw 120 pitches. I thought he had enough.”

Mauch also thought he had a sure thing in the bullpen. “Two outs for Forster, four outs for Donnie and we’d put it away,” he said.

So Mauch went ahead and, once again, pushed the button. Only this time, the result was a detonation.

Angel Notes Rick Burleson said a better throw would have prevented Willie Upshaw’s infield single in the eighth inning. “A good throw would have got him, I think,” he said. “With my arm situation, I haven’t practiced much throwing on the run, because it puts a lot of strain on the shoulder. On turf, that play has to be made on the run, the way Scho-ee (Dick Schofield) or their young guy (Toronto shortstop Tony Fernandez) make them. But my foot got stuck on the turf when I went to throw. My body carried through, and I made a terrible throw.” . . . Still, The Great Comeback continues for Burleson. His first month back after his second torn rotator cuff is in the books, and he begins May with a .358 batting average and 7 runs batted in. He has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats.