Angels Lose After Seattle KOs Sutton

Scuff that baseball, Don Sutton. Smear it with pine tar or Vaseline or whatever the foreign substance of the week is. The Seattle Mariners don’t mind. They can’t get enough of the stuff.

For the second time in less than a week, the Mariners beat Sutton. This time, they knocked him out after just 2 innings, scoring the first four runs of an eventual 6-4 victory over the Angels Tuesday night before 7,301 fans at the Kingdome.

Last Thursday, while Sutton was pitching the first six innings of a 7-2 Seattle victory, the Mariners had their television crew focus a camera on Sutton--zooming in whenever he poked one of his right fingers into the palm of his glove. Angel Manager Gene Mauch claimed Sutton was simply adjusting his ring. And the Mariners, not wanting to press their luck, decided not to press the issue.

What, Seattle complain? Sutton is headed for the Hall of Fame, and on the final lap of his Victory 300 tour in 1986, he finished with losing records against only three teams. The Mariners were one of them. In three starts against Seattle, Sutton was 1-2 with a 10.80 earned-run average. One start lasted two outs, with the Mariners strafing Sutton for eight runs.

Tuesday, Sutton made it through eight outs. In so doing, he also gave up four earned runs on seven hits, including home runs by Phil Bradley and Rey Quinones.

Afterward, Sutton called it “a miserable evening to be a part of. It was kind of like a surprise birthday party where I knew no one. I think Gene (Mauch) knew it. That’s why he got me out of there while we were still in the game.”

Mauch pulled Sutton (0-2) with two runners on and two outs in the third inning. He couldn’t bear to watch more.

“I imagine Sutton is glad these two starts are behind him,” Mauch said. “And so am I.”

One again, Sutton was a loser to Scott Bankhead (2-0). Bankhead worked six innings, allowing a leadoff home run to Brian Downing and six other hits, before giving way to the bullpen combination of Jerry Reed and Edwin Nunez.

Sutton was all right for one out. The first batter he faced, Donell Nixon, popped out to Wally Joyner in foul territory.

After that, almost everything turned foul for Sutton.

John Moses singled to left. Phil Bradley homered deep to right. One out later, Alvin Davis walked, Jim Presley doubled and Dave Valle singled. Valle, who homered twice off Sutton five days ago, drove the ball to right--deep enough to score Davis and prompt Presley to press for home.

But Angel rightfielder Devon White made a strong throw and catcher Darrell Miller was waiting with the ball when Presley arrived. Miller’s tag spared Sutton additional damage, cutting off Seattle’s first-inning bonanza at four hits and three runs.

Things were calm until Quinones led off the next inning. On a 2-2 pitch, Quinones cleared the left-field fence. It was Quinones’ first home run since he joined the Mariners last August. It was also Seattle’s eighth home run of the season--half of them courtesy of Sutton.

Sutton got the first two outs of the third inning, but when he issued a walk to Davis and yielded another single to Presley--this one a towering pop fly that hit one of the streamers hanging from the Kingdome roof and fell to earth, glancing off Doug DeCinces glove--Mauch interceded. On came Urbano Lugo and out went Sutton, trailing, 4-1.

Seattle made it 5-1 after five innings. Moses opened the inning with a double and Bradley moved him to third on and infield out. From there, Moses scored on sacrifice fly by Davis.

The Mariners added another run off Lugo in the sixth when Valle, Harold Reynolds and Moses strung together three singles.

Through five innings, the extent of the Angel offense had been Brian Downing’s second leadoff home run of the season. Downing had his six-game hitting streak snapped Monday night, but on Bankhead’s third pitch of the game Downing deposited the ball into the left-field seats for his fourth homer of the year.

The Angels had runners in scoring position in the third and fifth innings, but squandered both opportunities.

In the third, Downing walked and White doubled him to third, but with two outs, Joyner grounded to first base. In the fifth, Gary Pettis doubled and Downing walked again, only to have White end the inning with a line drive to second.

The Angels scored their second run off Bankhead in the sixth on three singles by Joyner, Jack Howell and Dick Schofield. Schofield’s RBI hit was his third of the season. Prior to the at-bat, he was hitting .077.

Reed allowed the Angels another run in the seventh, throwing a wild pitch with the bases loaded, enabling Mark McLemore to score from third.

The Angels scored their final run in the ninth inning, with White hitting his second home run in as many nights off Nunez. This one, which led off the inning, didn’t carry quite the significance of Monday’s game-winner.

Nunez came back to retire Joyner and DeCinces on infield grounders and strike out Howell to end the game, earning his first save of the season.

And Sutton had lost again to his strange nemesis from the Northwest, the Seattle Mariners. Afterward, he was asked about the brick wall he seems to hit every time he pitches against this team.

“I don’t put a lot of stock in that,” Sutton said. “Tonight, it could’ve been the Yomiuri Giants, as far as I’m concerned.”

And Seattle just as well could have its lineup stocked with nine clones of Sadaharu Oh.

Angel Notes

Urbano Lugo’s relief stint would have cost him his regular turn in the starting rotation, but since Thursday is an off-day, Angel Manager Gene Mauch was planning to skip Lugo’s start anyway. Mike Witt will pitch Friday’s series opener against Minnesota, with Lugo’s next start scheduled for Tuesday against Oakland. . . . Today, Kirk McCaskill makes his second start of the season. His first start (last Friday in Oakland) was cut short after six innings when McCaskill developed soreness in his pitching elbow. According to McCaskill, the condition has bothered him since he began pitching. “It’s always been there, so why complain about it?” he said. “If I can’t pitch, then I’m concerned about it.” McCaskill did not throw on the sideline between the two starts, a practice he said he tried twice last season when the soreness cropped up. “Sometimes, rest is the best thing for it,” he said. . . . Add McCaskill: During his first start, Reggie Jackson hit a belt-high line drive back up the middle, which McCaskill, with a split-second reflex, gloved like a hockey goalie. “That was self-defense,” he said. “That loud scream you heard in the stands--that was my wife.”

Jack Howell’s first week as the Angels’ new left fielder has been less than scintillating, but his predecessor, Brian Downing, preaches patience. “It takes time to learn the idiosyncrasies,” Downing said. “You can’t expect him to just go out there and be a Gold Glover. All these parks are new to him, all the situations are new to him.” One situation that has given Howell some early trouble: Balls hit over his head. Said Downing: “That’s a very difficult thing. I’m not that good at it after playing there for years.”