White Connects again in Angel Win

After searching around all of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, and maybe a few other dark corners between there and here, the Angels finally found a way to beat Bert Blyleven Friday night.

It goes by the working title of Devon White.

White, a rookie unwise to the ways of Blyleven and the pall he traditionally casts over Angel bats, hit a home run and took another away to trigger a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins before an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 36,175.

Delivering his third home run in four games, White gave the Angels a 1-0 lead over Blyleven in the third inning.

Then, with Angel starter Mike Witt working on a nervous 2-1 edge, White leaped and reached over the right-field fence to rob Roy Smalley of a game-tying home run in the seventh. It was a spectacular play because the ball was already beyond the wall when White snatched it with a swipe of his glove and carried it back down to earth.

“He made a heck of a play,” Smalley said. “I didn’t expect him to come down with it--and he did.”

Angel Manager Gene Mauch called it “a great slam-dunk catch. White and (Gary) Pettis catch everything in the ball park.”

And a few things outside of it, as well.

Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly might have been equally impressed had his team not possessed the services of one Kirby Puckett. Puckett has already erased two potential home runs with over-the-wall plays.

“We’ve seen two like that before, haven’t we?” Kelly said. “We were bound to have one taken away from us, sooner or later.”

For the Angels, it came soon enough to beat Blyleven for the first time in his last five starts against them. In 1986, Blyleven was 3-0 with a 2.36 earned-run average against California, the final two victories coming on a five-hitter and a three-hitter. Overall, Blyleven (1-1) took a 27-12 record against the Angels into Friday night’s game.

This time, the Angels threw their best pitcher at the hex. And Witt (2-1) responded with a three-hitter. With the exception of the fourth inning, when Minnesota scored its only run, Witt did not allow a runner beyond first base.

That’s the kind of performance it takes for this team to get by Blyleven.

“Oh yeah, we knocked the bleep out of him,” Mauch said sarcastically. “Once every year or two, we beat him, 2-1 or 3-2.”

The Twins scored their only run in the fourth on a triple by Randy Bush, followed, not too surprisingly, by a single by Puckett, who took a .444 batting average into the evening. The RBI was his 12th in 10 games.

Bush’s triple came on a high drive to deep center field that sent Pettis sprinting to the warning track. Having turned his back on the ball, Pettis looked up right before reaching the wall and tried to make an over-the-shoulder basket catch.

The ball hit Pettis’ glove, and Pettis hit the wall. The impact caused the ball to squirt loose and Pettis to twist his ankle, requiring an interruption in the action while Pettis had the ankle attended to. Pettis remained in the game, but Bush remained at third only long enough for the next batter, Puckett, to line a hit to left.

Two outs later, Puckett reached third when Witt couldn’t field a bouncer back to the mound by Roy Smalley. The ball skipped through Witt’s legs, putting runners on first and third. The threat ended, however, when Tom Brunansky popped to Mark McLemore at second base.

And that was Minnesota’s only real threat of the night. Greg Gagne singled in the third inning and Tom Nieto walked in the fifth, but neither runner advanced beyond first base. In the ninth, Puckett reached base on Butch Wynegar’s passed ball on strike three, but Witt came back to retire the last three Twins on infield grounders.

The Angels scored the decisive run in the bottom of the fifth inning when McLemore doubled into the left-field corner and came home on a single by slumping Wally Joyner. The RBI was the fifth of the season for Joyner, who was batting .175 at game time.

That resulted in a 2-1 lead for Witt, who then turned the show over to White. And White, for the first time since Aug. 3, 1985, helped turn an outing against Blyleven into a pleasurable experience for the Angels.

Angel Notes

John Candelaria may not have had much to say to the press about his arrest for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol early Friday morning, but after the game, he broke up reporters by asking them, “Any of you guys need a ride home?” . . . Kirk McCaskill will have his right elbow examined by Angel team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum Sunday. McCaskill reported some soreness in the arm Friday, but according to team therapist Roger Williams, “not nearly as much as after his first start.” McCaskill pitched a complete-game four-hitter Wednesday against the Seattle Mariners. “The four-hitter made it feel better,” quipped Williams, who is treating the elbow daily with ultrasound therapy, whirlpool baths and ice. “This is nothing new. We were doing the same thing last year,” Williams said. “Things like this are just a part of pitching. It goes with the territory.” . . . Dick Schofield, on his slow offensive start (.167 before Friday’s game): “For the first few days, I was jumping at the ball. I wasn’t waiting on the ball, which always makes a fastball quicker, and I was moving my head a little more. I wasn’t seeing the ball as well. Anyway, that’s my excuse.” After collecting just three hits in his first 27 at-bats, Schofield had a double and a home run Wednesday against Seattle. “Sometimes it’s not too good for me to hit a home run,” he said, only half-kiddingly. “I hit one and start pulling the ball and trying to jack it out of the park. I have to stay patient and go back to basics. I’m at block one again.”