Angels Snap a Bo Tie and Beat Royals, 6-5

Maybe there is something to all this magic number stuff.

One moment, the Angels and their right-hander-only lineup can’t score an honest run off Royal starter Charlie Leibrandt. It takes a rare fielding error by Royal center fielder Willie Wilson for their first run Tuesday night and later a single and, get this, three walks for their next.

But in this, the season where logic has gone on long vacations, the Angels don’t stop there. With Leibrandt and his control gone midway through the seventh, the Angels score three more times off reliever Dan Quisenberry for a four-run inning.

Then they get stung with a tying, two-run homer by Bo Jackson, the 1985 Heisman Trophy-winning player at Auburn, in the eighth before getting a tiebreaking single from Bob Boone in the bottom of the inning and settling on a strange 6-5 victory in front of 26,057 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

With the win came perks. The Angels got five innings out of starter John Candelaria. They weren’t particularly sharp innings (three runs, seven hits, a wild pitch), but Candelaria kept the Angels within viewing distance of the Royals until Leibrandt and Quisenberry had troubles of their own.

And of course, there’s this business of magic numbers. Even with a Texas Ranger win, the Angels were able to reduce the number from 11 to 10.

As he had done three days ago in Chicago, Manager Gene Mauch presented a lineup card that included eight right-handed hitters and one switch-hitter. The thinking is simple enough: Right-handers generally do better against left-handed pitchers. Percentages and all that.

So Mauch sent out Rick Burleson as the designated-hitter, Dick Schofield, Brian Downing, Doug DeCinces, George Hendrick, Bobby Grich, the switch-hitting Gary Pettis, Gus Polidor and Boone.

Left on the bench, among others, were Reggie Jackson and Wally Joyner.

But like Sunday, the strategy didn’t work to exact specifications--at least, not at the beginning. The White Sox’s Joe Cowley had held the Angels to six hits. This time, Leibrandt was having similar success.

First, the Royals gave Leibrandt a first-inning, 1-0 lead, made possible by a single to center by Wilson and a run-scoring double by Lonnie Smith, who went 4 for 5 in the game.

The lead was gone in the second as the Angels scored an unlikely run owing to an uncharacteristic error by Wilson, the former Gold Glove center fielder. With no outs, DeCinces drove the ball to deep center. Wilson hesitated, then broke back toward the fence. He reached up to make the catch, only to have the ball carom off his glove. DeCinces, who had never stopped running, slid safely ahead of the throw to third. Moments later, he scored on Hendrick’s sacrifice fly to left.

The Royals scored twice in the fifth inning. Wilson did what he could to make up for the gaffe with a double, his third hit of the evening, and scored on another Smith line drive, this time a triple to right that skipped under the glove of the charging Hendrick. Smith even had a chance at an inside-the-park homer, but Royal coach Jose Martinez had him stop as Smith rounded third.

It didn’t matter. Hal McRae singled past Polidor at second to score Smith and give the Royals a 3-1 lead.

Meanwhile, Mauch’s tinkering with the lineup seemed to be a mistake. After the unearned run in the second, Leibrandt allowed two singles in the third, a single in the fourth, two singles and nothing in the sixth.

Leibrandt had two outs in the seventh when his control began to fail him. Grich had lined a 3-and-2 pitch into right to start the inning and moved to second on a groundout by Pettis. Polidor flied out for the second out.

But then Boone walked. And Burleson, to load the bases. And then Schofield walked, earning an RBI simply by jogging to first. So much for Leibrandt.

In came Quisenberry, and out went the righty vs. lefty theory. So naturally, Downing singles to drive in Boone. And DeCinces drives in two more runs with another single past George Brett at third, making the score 5-3 in favor of the Angels.

Angel Notes First baseman Wally Joyner was missing from the starting lineup for the fourth consecutive game. Joyner said his right shoulder, which was injured last Friday evening in Chicago, is healed enough to allow him to play. Manager Gene Mauch said Joyner could have pinch-hit Monday night against the White Sox. On Tuesday against the Royals, Joyner may have taken a seat because of Mauch’s all-right-handed lineup. . . . Rick Burleson, who recently voiced his frustrations about his lack of playing time, found himself at designated hitter Tuesday night. He hasn’t started a game in the field since Aug. 19. . . . Urbano Lugo, who earned his first victory of the season against the White Sox Monday night, will start Saturday against--you guessed it--Chicago. “That’s the plan right now as far as I’m concerned,” Mauch said. . . . A Sept. 11 rainout against the Cleveland Indians has been rescheduled for Monday at Anaheim Stadium. The game, which starts at 5:35, will be the first of a twilight-night doubleheader. A N G E L S

M A G I C

NUMBER

10

Any combination of Angel victories and Texas Ranger losses totaling 10 will give the Angels the AL West title.

Bret Saberhagen has had a season to forget. Jim McCurdie’s story, Page 9.