Kansas City Wins on a 10-Count : Anaheim Stadium and Angels Have Power Failures

The Anaheim Stadium lights, taking a cue from the Angels’ offense, blacked out Friday night. The lights, after a 38-minute delay, came back on. The Angels never did.

Those 38 minutes proved to be the Angels’ best moments during a 10-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals before a crowd of 35,992. It was the only time all evening the Royals went a such a long time without scoring.

Kansas City led, 5-0, before the power outage. Less than two innings after the lights were restored, it was 10-0.

Once, in 1977, a power failure forced the cancellation of an Angel game. For the Angels, Friday was a great night for a blackout. But the technicians wouldn’t oblige. The repairs were made and the game proceeded.

And the Angels slipped into darkness and back to .500 at 30-30, the same record as the Royals. Both teams now trail first-place Texas by 4 1/2 games.

Steve Balboni got in his annual mugging of the Angels, driving in four runs with a pair of home runs. Lonnie Smith added another homer; Willie Wilson had a run-scoring double, and a throwing error by Dick Schofield handed Kansas City two more runs.

Jim Slaton, who lasted one out in his last start, retired 10 batters this time. He left with one out in the fourth inning, trailing, 8-0.

It marked the fifth straight loss for Slaton, whose record has slipped from 4-1 to 4-6. His earned-run average is 5.70.

Yes, the Angels miss John Candelaria.

Afterward, Manager Gene Mauch held a closed-door meeting with General Manager Mike Port. Candelaria isn’t due back for at least another two weeks, but the Angels may not be able to wait that long.

“I’ll just keep going out there,” Slaton said. “It’s frustrating, but I’ll have to keep grinding it out. My stuff has been about the same all year. It’s been more a case of poor location than anything else.”

Balboni put the ball in the worst possible location for Slaton--over the the left-field fence. His three-run homer capped a four-run first inning for Kansas City.

“Four runs in the first inning tend to put a damper on the whole game,” Slaton said. “You can’t do that against a guy who won the Cy Young last year.”

Bret Saberhagen won that award but had won little else during the first 2 1/2 months of the 1986 season. He was 3-6 before Friday night.

But the Angels, as is their habit of late, made Saberhagen healthy in a hurry.

Saberhagen limited the Angels to one run and seven hits through seven innings before giving way to the bullpen in the eighth.

Balboni’s two home runs--the second coming against reliever Chuck Finley--gave him 12 for the year. It also was the eighth two-home run performance of Balboni’s career. Three of them have been recorded against the Angels--all at Anaheim Stadium.

Then, there was Smith. He entered the game with a .215 batting average and no home runs. He drove in one run against Slaton with a single in the second inning and delivered his first home run since 1985 in the sixth inning against Finley.

The Angel defense also made a contribution. Before Smith’s RBI single, Willie Wilson reached base on a fielder’s choice, stole second and advanced to third on Bob Boone’s throwing error.

Then, in the fourth inning, Schofield, who had just one error in the Angels’ first 59 games, doubled that total with two runners in scoring position. Schofield’s wild throw to first base on a grounder by Rudy Law brought home both Wilson and Smith.

The Angels scored their first run in the seventh inning, on Brian Downing’s seventh home run of the year.

The Angels scored again in the eighth when, with two out, Reggie Jackson singled off reliever Bud Black and Jack Howell tripled to left-center. Howell’s triple was the Angels’ sixth in their last seven games.

The pitching lines for Slaton and Finley weren’t pretty. Slaton allowed 6 hits, 3 walks and 6 earned runs in his 2 innings. Finley surrendered 3 runs--2 on home runs--in 3 innings.

Only Todd Fischer escaped unscathed. The rookie worked the eighth and ninth innings, allowing two singles--including Royal rookie Mike Brewer’s first major league hit--but did not allow a run.

Angel Notes

After spending most of the past week talking about it, Don Sutton goes after his 300th career victory today when he opposes Dennis Leonard in a nationally televised game. In interviews, Sutton has taken a nonchalant approach toward his bid, but at least one fellow Angel pitcher believes Sutton isn’t telling the whole story. “You don’t work this hard and this long for nothing,” Kirk McCaskill said. “How many pitchers in history have won 300 games? Eighteen? And they’ve been playing since, what, 1880? That speaks for itself. You’ve got to be excited. I imagine Don’s just thinking he can’t let the excitement take away from what he’s doing.” McCaskill, in his second major league season, shakes his head when he considers the prospect of 300 victories. “It’s so . . . unrealistic,” he said. “I was talking to George Hendrick the other day about things in baseball that are unfathomable, and that’s one of them. That’s 20 years of 15 wins per year. When you get into those kinds of numbers, it’s hard to comprehend.” McCaskill said he hopes Sutton can take advantage of the national forum NBC’s “Game of the Week” is providing. “They’ve always said Don doesn’t get any recognition,” McCaskill said. “It would be nice for him to get it on national TV.” . . . The Terry Forster line of the day: “I’ve never seen anybody win his 300th game. Oh, yeah--Cy Young. I forgot about that one.’

John Candelaria came away pain-free from his 20-minute workout in the bullpen Thursday and is ready to move to the next phase of his rehabilitative program: Pitching in a simulated game. Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said Candelaria and Gary Lucas would both throw 45 to 50 pitches, roughly the equivalent of three innings, in a simulated game Monday. According to Lachemann, Candelaria remains about two weeks away from pitching in a real game. Lucas still has no timetable for his return. “Gary had some pain today,” Lachemann said. “But he threw back-to-back (Wednesday and Thursday) for the first time, and that probably accounts for it.” . . . Donnie Moore is scheduled for another session of long-toss today and then will throw off the mound Monday for the first time since being placed on the disabled list.