Angels Defeat Twins Despite 5 Errors, 7-3

DeWayne Buice, the latest addition to the Angels’ weary pitching staff, arrived at the Metrodome Thursday, looked around and said, “This is the wildest place I’ve ever seen. It looks like the inside of the Goodyear blimp.”

Darrell Miller, the Angels’ new left fielder, might have had another description for it, something that wouldn’t be fit to print on the side of that blimp. As Miller discovered in the Angels’ error-strewn 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins, sighting a baseball against the blanched background of the Metrodome’s fiberglass roof can be as challenging as picking sugar cubes out of a snow drift.

Miller lost two fly balls by Gary Gaetti in the roof, allowing both to fall foul. And when the first dropped, Gaetti was given enough of a reprieve to deliver a two-run home run that got the Twins off to a 2-0 lead.

The second did the Angels no damage, but it was one the Angels won’t let Miller soon forget. Gaetti hit a deep fly down the left-field line, and Miller drifted back, almost all the way to the wall, gazing up without a clue to where the ball was. He kept looking, standing there with both arms extended, like a man groping around a pitch-black room. He was still looking up when the ball plopped to the turf, landing about 30 feet away in foul territory.

John Candelaria came back to retire Gaetti and the rest of the side, but by the time Miller returned to the dugout, he was greeted with intense hooting by his teammates.

“I knew that was coming, no doubt about it,” Miller said, smiling about it later. “That’s why I had to get the game-winning RBI and do something about it.”

Which is precisely what Miller did.

After home runs by Devon White and Wally Joyner helped forge a 3-3 tie, Miller singled off Frank Viola (1-2) in the sixth inning to drive home Doug DeCinces with the go-ahead run. Brian Downing later added a two-run home run and Mark McLemore a run-scoring single, giving Candelaria (3-0) and reliever Donnie Moore more than enough offense.

As for defense, well, actions speak louder than words. In addition to Miller’s struggles, the Angels committed five errors--two by DeCinces, two by McLemore and one by Dick Schofield.

The first one by DeCinces, a low throw to first base that Joyner failed to scoop, set up Gaetti’s two-run, two-out home run. Schofield erred on a ball that enabled Tim Laudner to score Minnesota’s third run in the fifth inning. And McLemore’s second error helped give Moore, who hadn’t pitched since Saturday because of sore ribs, an unwanted welcome-back gift--a no-out, bases-loaded situation in the ninth.

McLemore was attempting to turn a double play when he fielded Roy Smalley’s grounder, looked at second base and lost control of the ball. Runners on first and second. Moore then walked Steve Lombardozzi, and Minnesota sent the potential tying run to the plate.

Moore, however, collected himself and retired the next three Twins in order--Mark Salas on a pop fly, Randy Bush on a strikeout and Dan Gladden on an easy fly to right.

“I didn’t recognize the defense,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said afterward, “and I don’t care to meet it again. We got some good pitching from Candelaria and Moore under duress. Over the long haul, our pitchers are going to benefit from good defense. Tonight, they were able to overcome this little lapse.”

The home runs also helped. White negated Gaetti’s two-run homer with one of his own in the fourth, connecting with Joyner on first base. It was White’s sixth home run of the season, all coming in the last 10 games.

Two innings later, Joyner followed suit with a mighty solo home run. After going without a homer since last Aug. 5, a span of 61 games, the Angel first baseman has now cleared the fences in each of his last three games.

Downing capped the scoring in the top of the ninth with a two-run shot over the left-field fence. It left Downing with 7 home runs and 18 RBIs for the season.

Candelaria, who pitched seven innings, the last on a numb right leg that buckled several times before Mauch got the message, was appreciative of the support.

And he was surprised by the lack of defensive support.

“I never expected five errors,” Candelaria said. “Defensively, I’ll take this team seven days out of seven each week.”

Blame it on the Metrodome. Miller did.

“Once a ball gets in the air, it’s difficult to pick it up against that background,” said Miller, who then analyzed his foul follies.

“The first one, I took my eye off to see where I was running, and that’s where I screwed up,” he said. “The second was in the clouds, as far as I was concerned. I knew it was out there somewhere. I kept waiting to see it, but it never came up.”

Fortunately for the Angels, Miller saw that sixth-inning pitch from Viola a little better.

Angel Notes So where was comedian-impressionist-relief pitcher DeWayne Buice when he got the word that he was being recalled from Edmonton by the Angels? Doing his laundry. “I had three weeks’ worth of dirty clothes and I couldn’t find a laundromat in Edmonton, so I took them to the ballpark and used the team’s washing machine,” Buice said. “I was washing my clothes when (Edmonton Manager) Tom Kotchman told me George Hendrick was hurt and I was coming up.” For Buice, 29, the announcement marked the end of a 10-year-long minor league apprenticeship. His reaction? “It never set in until I walked on this field,” he said after arriving at the Metrodome. “On the plane, it was just another road trip. But then you come here, look around and think, ‘Here I am.’ ” . . . Add Buice: He said the Angels’ decision to recall him “caught me completely by surprise. I hadn’t heard about Hendrick getting hurt. Even if I would’ve known, I would never figure they’d replace him with me.” Joked Buice: “Well, I did have a hit in spring training. I guess they have a lot of tender arms in the bullpen right now.” . . . Jack Howell rejoined the club after spending Thursday in Tucson with his father, who underwent successful double-bypass heart surgery. It was the second bypass operation for Jack, Sr., 57, who had his first in 1980. “Everything turned out perfect,” Howell said. “The doctors say he’s a day ahead of schedule. He was talking this morning and should be released in five or six days. If it stays the way it did in 1980, he should be up to walking a mile in a couple weeks.”