Angels Run Out of Innings and Lose, 8-7 : Gaetti’s Bases-Loaded Single in Ninth Is Final Blow as Twins Win

Gene Mauch stopped overturning tables of postgame food years ago, but every now and then, a plate may get, uh, misdirected. And after the Angels’ 8-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins Saturday night, the doorway to the Angel manager’s office was decorated with what should have been dinner.

Mauch had trouble stomaching much of what was played out before him in front of a Cap Night crowd of 51,717 at the Metrodome. Consider what the Angels gave their manager to chew on:

--Willie Fraser, making his first start in place of surgery-bound Kirk McCaskill, surrendered three 400-foot home runs as he staggered through four innings.

--Left fielder Ruppert Jones dropped a line drive that would have ended the fourth inning but instead paved the Twins’ way to a pair of unearned runs.

--The Angels pulled within 5-4 by the seventh inning and had Mark McLemore on third base with one out, only to have McLemore get thrown out at home on a dribbler to first base by Jones.

--After the Angels rallied for two runs and a 6-6 tie in the top of the eighth, reliever Gary Lucas opened the bottom of the inning by surrendering a home run to Gary Gaetti.

--After the Angels rallied for another run and a 7-7 tie in the top of the ninth, Chuck Finley also failed against Gaetti. With the bases loaded, one out and Mauch employing a five-man infield, Gaetti golfed Finley’s final pitch to the center-field fence on one hop, scoring Mark Davidson with the winning run.

The Angels played nearly 3 1/2 hours, totaled 11 hits, rallied from deficits of 3-1, 5-2, 6-4 and 7-6 . . . and it all went for naught.

Mauch sat at his desk, dinner-less, running a hand through his hair as he talked with reporters. He discussed his last gasp, the five-man infield--which entailed the positioning of Gus Polidor, Jack Howell and Doug DeCinces between second and third bases, Gary Pettis in left center and Devon White in right center.

“I’d rather never, ever do that,” Mauch said. “No one wants to be tied up, on the road, hoping for extra innings.”

Gaetti rendered the strategy useless, hitting a 390-foot fly that White, playing shallow, could not run down.

Even with a normal defensive alignment and the outfielders playing at normal outfield depth, Gaetti’s ball would have easily been enough for a run-scoring sacrifice fly.

“If White can catch the ball, what’s he going to do--eat it?” Mauch asked.

In addition to his game-winning RBI and his eighth-inning home run, Gaetti interrupted three Angel line drives at third base--robbing McLemore, White and Butch Wynegar.

Mauch, however, was not in the mood to deal compliments.

“All routine plays,” Mauch grumbled. “If he doesn’t catch all those balls. . . .

“They were hit hard, right at him. It’s just like playing ‘burn-out’ at the playground.”

The Angels scored three runs in two innings off the Twins’ Terminator, Jeff Reardon, which should have been enough to win most games.

But Fraser (1-1) created too big a deficit too early for the Angels.

Fraser’s first start of the season looked not unlike any other 22-year-old rookie pitcher’s introduction to the Metrodome. He discovered quickly why this launching pad is nicknamed the Homerdome, yielding three mammoth home runs in his four innings.

The first was delivered by Mauch’s nephew, Roy Smalley Mauch had lunch with Smalley Saturday afternoon and obviously preferred that entree to the one Smalley served up under the Dome. The two-run home run, measured at 440 feet, erased a 1-0 Angel lead in the second inning.

Fraser then proceeded to make Minnesota shortstop Greg (Spoon) Gagne look like Harmon Killebrew. Fraser vs. Gagne, second inning--439-foot blast over the center-field fence. Fraser vs. Gagne, fourth inning--421-foot shot to the same spot with Tom Brunansky on base.

First-start jitters?

“What Lach (pitching coach Marcel Lachemann) and I saw wasn’t nervousness,” Mauch said. “What I saw was a couple of cookies to Gagne.”

Said Fraser: “I just threw terrible. The pitch to Smalley and the first one to Gagne were right down the middle. The second one was high, off the plate. I made poor pitches and I paid for them.”

The Angels also paid for a mistake by Jones--the line drive he dropped to allow Brunansky to reach base in the fourth inning. It should have been the third out of the inning, but instead, it gave Gagne the opportunity to hit home run No. 2.

Jones made amends with a two-run home run of his own in the fifth and had the chance to tip the balance in the seventh with McLemore on third and one out. But Jones tapped weakly down the first-base line. McLemore, running on the play, was thrown out easily by first baseman Kent Hrbek.

“McLemore did what he was told to do,” Mauch said. “We just got a short bouncing ball. Still, we got another runner in scoring position after that.”

Mauch was referring to Jones, who reached base on the play and then stole second. But White left him there by grounding to second.

McLemore later had a two-run single in the eighth, and Joyner forged a 7-7 tie in the top of the ninth by singling home White, who had doubled.

But each time, the Angel bullpen negated the production of the offense. Seven runs were thrown away, soon causing a plateful of food to be treated the same way.

Angel Notes

New Angel reliever Miguel Garcia, called up from Midland of the Double-A Texas League, is 21 but looks like he’s going on 16. Angel bullpen catcher Ricky Smith, who played with Garcia in Class A, said the pitcher has matured in a short period of time. “I caught him two years ago in Quad Cities, and there’s a difference now,” Smith said. “Catching him this spring, I noticed how much harder he’s throwing. He now has a good fastball with a little bit of a curve, and he’s developed a split-fingered fastball to go with them.”. . . Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly has moved Bert Blyleven up a day in the starting rotation, meaning that the Angels will have to face their long-time nemesis today, after all. Blyleven (27-13 in his career against the Angels) replaces Les Straker, who originally was scheduled to face Urbano Lugo this afternoon. Blyleven will be pitching on three days’ rest.