Witt Pitches 2-Hitter as Angels Win : DeCinces Gets Three Hits, Including a Homer; California’s Lead Is 3 1/2 Games

Another day, another game up in the American League West standings.

That was Saturday’s agenda for the Angels, who arrived for work with the knowledge that second-place Texas had already lost and a 3 1/2-game lead over the Rangers was theirs for the taking.

Thanks to Mike Witt, who fashioned a two-hitter, and Doug DeCinces, who had a three-hitter at the plate, the Angels capitalized by beating the Oakland A’s, 5-2, before an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 43,796.

The Angels now have their biggest lead since July 31.

Witt, who pitched eight shutout innings in his last start, came back to go a full nine for the 11th time this season, tying him for most complete games in the Americna League with Minnesota’s Bert Blyleven.

Witt (14-7) yielded but two hits--a first-inning home run to Dwayne Murphy and a seventh-inning line-drive double by Mike Davis that eluded the grasp of a lunging Brian Downing.

It was the fifth straight victory for Witt and the fifth two-hitter of the year for Angel pitchers. Other two-hitters this summer have been recorded by Kirk McCaskill (twice), Don Sutton and Ron Romanick.

DeCinces out-hit the Oakland offense on his own--delivering his 18th home run of the year in the third inning, a single in the fifth inning and a run-scoring double in the seventh inning. DeCinces has homered eight times in his last 18 games and has boosted his RBI total to 69, second on the team behind Wally Joyner’s 82.

And as if they needed it, the Angels received ample assistance along the way from the Oakland defense. Two A’s errors paved the way for four Angels runs in the third inning, erasing a very temporary 1-0 Oakland lead.

Bobby Grich had tied the score with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the third, his eighth of the season. One out later, Gary Pettis reached first when shortstop Alfredo Griffin couldn’t pick up his ground ball.

Pettis then took third when Griffin couldn’t handle another grounder, this one by Rick Burleson. It was scored as a bad-hop single.

Pettis then scored on a sacrifice fly by Joyner.

But the A’s meandering afield didn’t end there. Right fielder Mike Davis’ throw to the plate was closer to third base, sailing far and wide for another error that enabled Burleson to take second. From there, Burleson had a nice vantage point of DeCinces’ home run, coming on a 2-1 pitch by Oakland starter Curt Young (9-8) and giving the Angels a 4-1 advantage.

The Angels added a run in the seventh inning. Burleson opened with a double to center and Joyner sacrificed him to third.

Oakland Manager Tony LaRussa then turned to his bullpen, ushering in Eric Plunk in place of Young.

Plunk came on to face DeCinces. He fared a bit better than Young, but not much.

DeCinces doubled down the left field line for his third hit of the evening, scoring Burleson with the Angels’ fifth run.

In the meantime, Witt had pitched six consecutive hitless innings. Following Murphy’s home run, Witt retired 21 of the next 22 batters he confronted--with Jose Canseco reaching base only on a throwing error by shortstop Dick Schofield in the fifth inning. A diving catch by center fielder Gary Pettis also denied Griffin in the sixth inning.

With one out in the top of the eighth, Downing tried to pull off another dive. He fell short. Davis’ sinking line drive skidded away from Downing for a double.

Davis advanced to third on an infield out and scored when Grich mishandled a grounder by Griffin.

Witt finished the ninth by retiring the A’s in order and as easy as punching the clock, the Angels had placed another step’s distance between themselves and Texas.

Angel Notes Reggie Jackson had been as quiet as his bat since the All-Star break but Friday night Jackson used the occasion of his second home run since July 11 to issue an announcement--that his days as an Angel are numbered. “I already know where I’ll be next year,” Jackson said. “It ain’t gonna be here.” Saturday evening, he elaborated. “There ain’t gonna be no next year,” Jackson said after pitching a round of batting practice. “Any time you have the year I had in ’85 (.252, 27 home runs, 85 RBIs) and don’t have a job in spring training, what are they telling you? It’s just taken me a long time to realize it.” Jackson met with General Manager Mike Port earlier this week and among the items on the agenda was Jackson’s dissatisfaction with his role as a singles hitter. At the request of Manager Gene Mauch, Jackson had agreed to cut back on his swing and try the Little Ball approach. He didn’t like it. “No more of this spraying the ball around,” Jackson said. “I gotta drive the ball. All a groundball hit between third base and shortstop is gonna get me is a sayonara.” For a while, Jackson toyed with .300, but his average has since leveled off to .259. His power stats: 11 home runs, 39 RBIs. “Bleep .300,” Jackson said. “I’m not gonna embarrass myself. I tried to be a nice guy, but that was not working for me. From now on, I’m swinging like I should be swinging.” . . . Add Jackson: He wants to play a final season in 1987 and he has a certain destination in mind. A reunion with the Oakland A’s? “I hope so,” Jackson said.

John Candelaria described his removal from Friday’s game after five innings as a precautionary move and expects to make his next start, as scheduled, in Detroit Wednesday. “The arm feels better than it did after my last start,” he said. “I assume it’ll be fine to pitch in Detroit. The stiffness is nothing I haven’t had before and it’s not unusual when you consider how quickly I came back from surgery. I came back sooner than I should have because we’re trying to win a pennant.” And what is the normal recovery period for bone-chip surgery on an elbow? “I have no idea,” Candelaria said, “but mine was a lot worse than that kid on the Dodgers (Dennis Powell) and I came back before he did--and he’s 10 years younger than me. If we weren’t in contention, no doubt, I would’ve come back more slowly. I assume over the winter is when I’ll be able to rest it.”

Bob Boone snapped an 0-for-20 slump with a single off Curt Young in the fourth inning Saturday night. . . . Dick Schofield stole his 17th base on the front end of a double-steal attempt in the sixth inning. Bobby Grich tagged along for his first steal of 1986.