Ancient Angel Beats Mariners, 3-2 : Sutton Wins 305th Game and Makes Up for Two Defeats

The book of Don Sutton’s life has yet to be written, but if and when it is, the subject has the title ready.

“I’d call it, ‘I Don’t Remember Ever Being Rained Out,’ because I don’t remember the bad things that happen to me,” the 41-year-old Sutton said.

That sounded great in the aftermath of Sutton’s 305th victory Friday, but the author of the Angels’ 3-2 decision over the Seattle Mariners was clearly guilty of poetic license.

Sutton does remember the bad times. Like the last two times he faced the Mariners.

Sutton’s 300-victory tour opened in April at the Kingdome, amid trumpet blasts and flashing neon. This was the final leg to Cooperstown. Five wins in 1986 and he was in.

Well, he lost start No. 1 in Seattle, 5-2. Sutton gave up four of the runs on eight hits in four-plus innings.

Five days later, in Anaheim, Sutton made start No. 2. Seattle was again the opponent. Sutton failed to make it out of the first inning, yielding eight runs, four on a grand slam by Danny Tartabull, while recording just two outs.

Sutton called it one of the most embarrassing outings of his career. And at 0-2 with a 23.14 earned-run average after two outings against the Mariners, Sutton began to think hard about that career.

“I’m a person who’s motivated by fear of embarrassment,” he said. “I won’t hang around just to collect the check. But after 0-2, I was thinking, ‘Gee, maybe I’ve been around too long.’

“I had not thrown a single good pitch in that second game against Seattle. It was time to back up. Throwing between starts, I had to see if I could still get people out. If my stuff between starts was really ugly, it would’ve been time to start looking for another job.”

What Sutton has since achieved is history. The quest for 300 continued and culminated in June. In July, Sutton extended his winning streak to six games.

And in August, on the first afternoon of the new month, he finally beat the Mariners.

Sutton, running his record to 10-7, had a two-hit shutout through five innings. In the sixth, he surrendered a run-scoring triple to Jim Presley, who then scored on Ken Phelps’ single before a double play, off a strikeout and a steal attempt, got Sutton out of the inning.

Sutton gave up a double in the seventh inning to Scott Bradley but got the next two hitters before giving way to Donnie Moore, who pitched two scoreless innings for his fifth save in the last week.

That was enough to turn one inning’s worth of offense into the Angels’ sixth victory in their last seven games.

As was the case Thursday, two home runs did it--although neither was a grand slam. In the fourth inning, Doug DeCinces hit a solo homer, and after Brian Downing walked, George Hendrick cleared the fence in left-center for a 3-0 Angel lead.

“We got two big swings yesterday and we got two big swings today,” Manager Gene Mauch said.

But what stuck out most in Mauch’s mind was the difference between Sutton vs. Seattle in April and again in August. It wasn’t even the same pitcher, Mauch suggested with a smile.

“I got a special kick out of this one because of the way Sutton pitched after the way they hammered him the first two times,” Mauch said. “I really believe that was Don Whatshisname out there before. Today, we saw Don Sutton.”

Across the clubhouse, in front of his dressing stall, Sutton was thinking along the same line.

“I was pitching under an assumed name, an alias, I hope,” Sutton said of his first outings this season. “Those two games proved to me that major league hitters will hammer baseballs when you leave them over the plate too long.

“Seattle has a tough lineup. They can divide your attention with speed on the top, and then their guys in the middle can hit the ball out.

“I made a lot of ugly pitches and paid for it. But that’s history and that’s the way I treat it.”

History had a chance to repeat itself when Sutton loaded the bases in the first inning for Tartabull. But this time, Tartabull didn’t account for four runs. He struck out swinging to end the inning.

“I had to make a lot of tough pitches,” Sutton said. “A lot more than I wanted. It seemed like I was pitching in high-pucker situations all day.”

When Mauch determined that Sutton had puckered up long enough, he summoned Moore, who had also made his season debut with a splat against the Mariners. On opening night at the Kingdome, Moore surrendered a 10th-inning grand slam to Presley, and the Angels lost, 8-4.

Moore had a similar scare Friday in the eighth inning when Phelps flied deep to right field with Presley on base, but Hendrick caught the ball as he hit the wall.

Moore, who has 13 saves, downplayed his moment of atonement. “It’s a new day,” he said. “I didn’t take that game out there with me today and I won’t take today’s game out there tomorrow.”

On that, Sutton and Moore agree. Put away the past. And the best way to do that was witnessed Friday, when Sutton and Moore cleaned out the old Seattle ghosts by cleaning up on the present.

Angel Notes Donnie Moore has pitched five times in the last seven days, earning saves with each appearance. “This is the kind of groove I was in most of last year,’ Moore said. “I was wondering when I’d get it back. But I’ve had injuries. When you’re hurt, there’s nothing you can do.” Moore, on the difference between his first visit to the Kingdome and Friday: “When I came here the first time, I was not in shape. I had missed spring training and I wasn’t strong, I couldn’t throw at full velocity. Today, I had three pitches and all of them were good.” . . . Manager Gene Mauch called Moore’s two scoreless innings “the best I’ve seen him all year. You can’t imagine how much better it is to see him wearing spikes than in his ballet shoes.” Ballet shoes? On days Moore can’t pitch, such as Thursday, he wears running shoes instead of spikes. “If they’re not spikes, I call ‘em ballet shoes,” Mauch said with a smile.

George Hendrick hit his home run, which eventually proved to be the difference, on an 0-and-2 pitch by Mark Langston. Langston said Hendrick hit a good fastball. “When I try to throw as hard as I can, I get the ball up and out of the strike zone,” Langston said. “For the first time in my life, this one stayed in the strike zone.” Hendrick, of course, wasn’t talking about it, even though he was approached by several reporters. “I can’t be seen talking to you guys,” Hendrick said. “I have a reputation to protect.” . . . With his 305th victory, Don Sutton tied Eddie Plank for No. 16 on the all-time list. Next up: Mickey Welch at 307.

July wrap: The Angels were 15-11 last month. They hit .257 as a team, led by Wally Joyner’s .352, and produced a team earned-run average of 3.04, best in the American League. They also lost four pitchers--Ron Romanick, Todd Fischer, Mike Cook and the injured Terry Forster--and replaced them with John Candelaria, Gary Lucas, Vern Ruhle and Ray Chadwick. . . . Romanick’s second start for the Edmonton Trappers wasn’t much better than his first: 12 hits and 7 earned runs in 6 innings Thursday against Tacoma. Edmonton still won, 13-10, although Romanick wasn’t involved in the decision. He struck out four and walked two. . . . There will be a day for Rod Carew after all. The Angels have announced that they will hold a pregame ceremony and retire Carew’s No. 29 jersey Aug. 12 at Anaheim Stadium. The opponents will be the Minnesota Twins, for whom Carew played during the first 12 years of his career. Carew will become the first Angel player to have his uniform number retired. The club previously retired No. 26 in honor of owner Gene Autry, then regarded as the Angels’ “26th man.”