Ailing Angels Recover, Overcome Chicago, 3-2, This Time in 15 Innings

By the time the Angels, those extra-inning extraordinaires, were able to conclude their latest piece of business Saturday night, the sick had become healthy, the disabled had become able and the weak had become strong again.

By the the time the Angels had closed out their third consecutive overtime game, staggering past the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, in 15 innings, Manager Gene Mauch had found his resources so depleted that he was relying on:

--A center fielder who couldn’t raise his throwing arm above his head two days ago.

--A right-handed relief pitcher who was in Orange County 24 hours earlier, undergoing a CAT-scan for migraine headaches.

--A left-handed relief pitcher who, after spending the season’s first four months on the disabled list with a wrenched back, had thrown two innings or more in three of the Angels’ last four games.

For Gary Pettis, Donnie Moore and Gary Lucas, it was heal or else. Fifteen innings of baseball--in the wake of 10 innings Friday night and 14 innings Wednesday night--necessitated some speedy recoveries.

Pettis came on in the ninth inning as a pinch-runner and remained in the game as Mauch’s second center fielder. Pettis stole his 39th and 40th bases of the year and produced two singles in three at-bats--including the game-winner in the top of the 15th, a two-hopper through the left side of the infield that scored Dick Schofield from second base.

Moore, just hours after undergoing neurological tests and catching a plane to Chicago, came on to pitch three innings of relief. He worked the 10th, 11th and 12th, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out three.

And Lucas, who had pitched two innings in Cleveland Wednesday and two against the White Sox Friday, came on to pitch two more Saturday. He allowed just one single in the 13th and 14th innings to earn his third victory with the aid of Terry Forster, who pitched the 15th to record his fifth save.

This one was won by the weary. And with the victory, the Angels were able to keep their American League West lead at nine games while lowering their magic number to 13.

“We’re a little battered and bruised and probably a little tired right now,” Mauch said. “What’d we do--go 14 innings and win, 10 and lose, 15 and win?

“Invariably, you’ll run into a stretch of extra-inning games like this each summer. But, believe me, it’s really rough when you play them all on the road.”

Mauch verbally pinned medals on those who, in his own words, went beyond the call of duty.

On Pettis: “He had a great game in just two-thirds of a game.”

On Moore: “Can you imagine getting on a plane and flying home, getting a CAT-scan, getting back on a plane and flying back here . . . and then pitching three innings? That’s some kind of tough dude.”

On Lucas: “Oh my goodness, he’s done it day after day after day. I told him before the game, ‘I can really brutalize a left-hander.’ But he said he felt fine. So I told him, ‘We’re gonna try it again.’ ”

And on the game in general, which gave the Angels 14 wins in their last 17 outings: “Nobody wants to waste that much pitching. Especially us.”

For the first nine innings, the pitching of the Angels’ Mike Witt and the White Sox’s Steve Carlton dominated. Witt, bidding for his 18th victory, and Carlton, bidding for his first complete game since 1984, both left after the ninth inning--their efforts producing a 2-2 standoff.

Their numbers were as close as the score.

Witt allowed seven hits, two earned runs and two walks and struck out four.

Carlton allowed seven hits, two earned runs and three walks and struck out four.

“He’s not the same guy I remember,” said Mauch, who managed against Carlton in the National League during the 1970s, “but I know he’s the same competitor. He has the same amount of know-how; he still knows how to get a double play.”

Carlton got four double plays, which no doubt enabled the 41-year-old pitcher to take a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning. So did a couple of Angel base-running gaffes in the second inning.

The first was by Bobby Grich, who bunted into a double play when he watched his sacrifice attempt roll toward the first-base foul line but stay fair long enough for catcher Carlton Fisk to scoop it up and begin the double play. By hesitating, Grich failed to beat the throw to first base.

If he had, Grich would have scored on Darrell Miller’s triple to center. Miller, too, was guilty of faulty footwork when second baseman Jack Perconte bobbled the outfield relay with Miller heading into third.

Third base coach Moose Stubing waved Miller home, but Miller held up. He was stranded there when Gus Polidor grounded out to end the inning.

Later, much later, when Mauch was asked about the plays, he paused and said, “What day was that?”

Two RBIs by Grich counteracted Fisk’s two-run home run in the fourth inning. Those runs sent the game into extra innings, during which Mauch brought on his extras.

Moore kept it close under less than top conditions.

“I was kind of disoriented,” Moore said. “If it was up to me, I’d have had the day off. I thought if I’d pitch, it’d be only one inning. I didn’t think I’d have to go three.

“Right now, I’m so tired, all I want to do is get to bed. It’s been a long 36 hours.”

Pettis finally broke the tie with his single in the 15th. He admitted he was swinging with a sore right shoulder.

“At least, I didn’t have to throw the ball,” he said. “I didn’t have one play out there. Somebody was watching over me.”

And that turned Lucas into a winner for the third time in as many decisions. He has become the Angels’ extra-inning specialist, but after pitching nine innings in the club’s last five games, Lucas had one request.

“I hope we don’t go 15 tomorrow,” he said with a tired grin. “How about 11 once in a while?”

Angel Notes Carlton and Carlton: Potential Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Carlton Fisk were brought together as a battery for the first time Saturday, with impressive results. Carlton, who was 5-11 with a 5.89 ERA in the National League this year, limited the Angels to five singles, a triple and a double in nine innings. Fisk, who went nearly a month between starts at catcher, was behind the plate for the third straight night and had a two-run home run and a single in six at-bats . . . Because of stiffness in his lower back, Doug DeCinces was a late scratch, joining Wally Joyner (shoulder). . . . Joyner’s injury, which he sustained while trying to brace himself when he slipped along the first-base line Friday, was officially diagnosed as a strained shoulder.. . . Terry Forster’s save was his first since June 21. “He looks lousy but he’s throwing good,” Mauch said.