Angels Take a 3-1 Edge With Grit and Grich : Down in 9th, 3-0, They Tie It, Then Beat Red Sox in 11th, 4-3

If Bobby Grich is indeed writing the final chapter to his major league career during these American League playoffs, the first draft through three games and 10 innings of the fourth game had been one for the paper shredder.

Grich had been the focal point of the Angels’ Game 2 defeat--the fielder who couldn’t catch Dwight Evans’ pop fly behind second base and the runner who couldn’t hold up at third base.

In Game 3, Grich had gone 0 for 4.

And in Game 4 Saturday night, Grich had plunged to new depths. A botched double play ball, a crucial error and five outs in five at-bats--including a strikeout in the bottom of the ninth.

Grich’s glitches were the theme of the evening.

But in the bottom of the 11th, both Grich and the Angels gained redemption. Ending an 0-for-10 skid, Grich singled to left field off Boston reliever Calvin Schiraldi to score Jerry Narron from second base, capping an improbable comeback that resulted in a 4-3 Angel victory over Boston before a crowd of 64,223 at Anaheim Stadium.

And now, the Angels hold an impressive advantage in this best-of-seven series. They lead, 3 games to 1, and today at noon, they have their best starting pitcher, Mike Witt, facing Boston’s Bruce Hurst, who is working on three days’ rest for the first time this season.

The Angels could be only hours away from their first World Series berth.

“I’d love to close this thing and get some more champagne flowing around here and save us that trip back to Boston,” Grich said. “It would be a tremendous way to go into the World Series.”

In a season that will be remembered as the Year of the Comeback, the Angels may have eclipsed all prior efforts with Saturday night’s game. Forget Charlie Hough and the passed balls. Forget Dick Schofield’s grand slam off Willie Hernandez. Forget Wally Joyner’s stunning shot into the Yankee Stadium seats off Dave Righetti.

Remember this one.

As Angel Manager Gene Mauch put it, “It was as gratifying for us as it was devastating for them.”

Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Angels were gasping for breath--and grasping for anything, really--against the man known as Boston’s tops, Roger Clemens. Red Sox Manager John McNamara’s ears had been burning over his decision to start Clemens on three days’ rest after Clemens’ 143-pitch workload in Game 1, but for most of Game 4, that question seemed as irrelevant as the Angels’ bats.

Through eight innings, the Angels had five hits and no runs against Clemens. They began the bottom of the ninth trailing, 3-0.

Time to book that chartered flight back to Boston.

Then Doug DeCinces drove a 1-and-0 pitch over the center-field fence leading off the ninth, and the shutout was history. Clemens continued to zero in on a victory as he got George Hendrick to ground out to third base. He would not, however, get another out. Dick Schofield singled to left field. So did Bob Boone. The tying run was on base--prompting both managers to make moves.

McNamara replaced Clemens with Schiraldi, the rookie who saved nine games and fashioned a 1.41 earned-run average in less than half a season. Mauch replaced Boone with a pinch-runner, rookie Devon White.

That brought up Gary Pettis, the home run hero of Game 3 and the stroker of two singles against Clemens. Pettis hit another ball deep to the outfield, this one to left and, significantly, high in the lights.

Left fielder Jim Rice squinted into those lights and momentarily lost sight of the ball. By the time Rice re-focused, all he could do was scramble back in vain for a ball that would bound far over his head.

Schofield scored, White took third and Pettis was on second with a double. Boston’s lead was 3-2.

McNamara then called for Schiraldi to intentionally walk Ruppert Jones. Bases loaded, one out.

Grich was the next batter. In four at-bats against Clemens, Grich had struck out twice, grounded to short and flied to center. With the fleet White on third, all Grich needed was a medium-range fly ball to tie the game.

Grich struck out again, dropping his batting average in these playoffs to .154.

Down to their last out, the Angels sent Brian Downing to the plate. Two pitches later, Downing was down in the count, 0 and 2.

He then took a pitch high for ball one. And then Schiraldi’s 1-and-2 delivery hit Downing on the leg, giving Downing a painful, but critical, run batted in. White was forced home, and the Angels, stunningly, had tied the score.

Downing, as they say, had taken one for the team.

“It isn’t really anything I did,” he said. “I’ll take it. I get hit a lot (17 times during the regular season). It was a great time to get hit.”

Reggie Jackson then attempted to untie the score, but the Mr. October hero routine wasn’t what it used to be on this occasion. Jackson grounded to second, and as he crossed first base after Bill Buckner gloved Marty Barrett’s throw for the third out, Jackson raised his arms into the air and kicked at the dirt.

After neither team managed a baserunner in the 10th inning, Doug Corbett, Mauch’s fifth pitcher, walked out again to open the 11th. Corbett retired Don Baylor, Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman on infield bouncers, completing his third straight perfect inning.

In the bottom of the 11th, Schiraldi faltered again.

Narron, who had entered the game as the Angels’ catcher after White ran for Boone, singled to right. With no catchers left, Narron, no speedster, was left to run for himself.

Pettis was called upon to lay down a bunt--and he executed “a beauty,” as Mauch called it. “It had to be a good bunt to get Citation there over to second,” Mauch said, referring to Narron.

McNamara then had Schiraldi intentionally walk Jones again, setting the stage for a potential double play. With Grich on deck, those odds seemed fairly good.

Schiraldi offered one pitch to Grich. And in one swing, Grich purged the sins of this series by lining the ball to left field. He hit it deep enough to bring Narron all the way to the plate, where he was greeted by high-fiving teammates.

Shortly after, more than a hundred of the Anaheim Stadium faithful had joined them.

For Grich, the hit was vindication for 10 previous innings that were as lackluster defensively as they had been offensively. In the eighth inning, when Boston stretched its lead from 1-0 to 3-0, Grich mishandled two of the three balls hit his way.

With a chance to turn a double play after Spike Owen’s leadoff single, Grich bobbled Wade Boggs’ grounder--taking away the chance for two outs and forcing Grich to direct his throw to first. Once Owen reached second base, he came home on a wild pitch by Vern Ruhle and a single by Marty Barrett.

Bill Buckner then hit another ball in Grich’s direction. This one kicked off Grich’s glove and caromed into the outfield. Barrett scored, and the Angel deficit had grown to three runs.

It could’ve been worse, Grich figured.

“Nobody threw any tomatoes at me,” he said.

All but lost amid the late-inning turn of events was a strong showing by Angel starter Don Sutton and no showing by Angel first baseman Wally Joyner.

Sutton pitched 6 innings, limiting the Red Sox to four hits and one run. He left trailing, 1-0, and the Angel bullpen, pre-Corbett, only succeeded in worsening matters.

Joyner, meanwhile, was in an Orange hospital, receiving injections of antibiotics for a bacterial infection that was apparently more serious than was thought in the aftermath of Game 3. Joyner is considered doubtful for Game 5.

For 10 innings Saturday, the Angels sorely missed Joyner. His replacement, Hendrick, went 0 for 5 with one double play and strangely stepped aside to watch Barrett’s eighth-inning single skip into right field.

But in the 11th, Grich, who had been missing in action, delivered.

With one more win, the Angels will deliver Gene Autry into the World Series for the first time.