Viola Makes Hiself at Home in Anaheim : Twin Left-Hander Loses, but Manages to Tie Up Angel Hitters

You couldn’t find two pitchers with more contrasting looks and styles than Frank Viola and Bert Blyleven of the Minnesota Twins.

The bearded Blyleven is a hard-throwing right-hander whose curve ball is considered one of baseball’s best.

Viola doesn’t have the facial hair or the kind of curve to match Blyleven’s. He’s a left-hander who has been relying lately on his fastball and a series of off-speed pitches.

But Viola seems to be developing some very distinct Bert Blyleven-like tendencies--most notably a penchant for pitching extremely well against the Angels in Anaheim Stadium.

Blyleven has been tough on the Angels wherever he has pitched. He has a 27-13 lifetime record against California, including Friday night’s 2-1 loss, in which he threw an eight-hitter.

Viola, a native New Yorker, has made himself at home in the Big A. In two Anaheim starts last season, the 27-year-old pitched two five-hitters to defeat the Angels, 4-1, on April 17 and, 6-2, on Aug. 13.

He was at it again Saturday night, throwing a complete-game, six-hitter against the Angels but losing, 1-0, when California scored an unearned run in the seventh inning.

Outside of the fateful seventh, in which the Angels scored on an error, only one other runner advanced to third. Viola struck out three, got 11 ground-ball outs and forced the Angels to pop out to infielders five times.

Viola pitched well enough to win but walked away with his first Anaheim Stadium defeat since losing to the Angels, 14-2, on Aug. 2, 1984.

“You can’t ask for much more from our pitcher,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said afterward. “We made a couple of unfortunate plays in the seventh, and they capitalized.”

Viola had retired 17 of the first 20 batters in six innings before the Angels pushed a run across in the seventh. California scored when, with runners on first and second, Butch Wynegar lined a single off Viola’s glove that second baseman Steve Lombardozzi snared and threw into the Twin dugout for an error.

“I should have caught that ball,” Viola said. “Our second baseman made a helluva play to get to it, but the error is just part of the game. It’s out of your control.”

Viola was in complete control throughout, keeping the Angels off balance with his changeup--a pitch that he began using more this season.

“If you have a good pitch, you’ve got to go with it that night,” Viola said. “I’ve gotten away from my best pitch, which was a fastball, but I’ve had a good slider and changeup in my first few starts this season.”

The Angels were certainly impressed.

“He never made one good pitch to me,” said lead-off batter Brian Downing, who went 0 for 4. “He threw more changeups than he usually does, and he throws his fastball hard enough to keep you honest. Those were very good pitches. But I don’t care if it’s 1-0 or 10-9, as long as we win.”