Swingin’ Angels Overpower Brewers, 10-5 : Downing, Schofield, Howell, DeCinces Hit Homers Against Milwaukee

For a team that was expected to raise a lot of dust with its new-found speed this year, the Angels have been traveling at a familiar pace. It’s called the home run trot.

The hounds turned to the hammer again Tuesday night, blasting four home runs en route to a 10-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers before an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 31,358.

It was only the second loss in 19 games for Milwaukee, which led 3-0 and 5-4 before the Angels won it with three runs in the sixth inning, two of the runs coming on Brian Downing’s ninth home run.

That is Downing’s career high for homers in a month. He is now tied with Milwaukee’s Rob Deer for the American League lead in homers and runs batted in with 22.

Downing has manufactured this kind of power before. The more remarkable statistic is that the Angels lead the major leagues in home runs with 31, having hit 18 in their last eight games.

In addition to Downing’s game-winner Tuesday night, the Angels got solo homers by Dick Schofield and Jack Howell and a three-run homer by Doug DeCinces that put the game away in the eighth.

The Angels collected a season high of 17 hits off Mark Ciardi and Chuck Crim, with DeCinces, who also doubled twice, and Schofield, who also singled twice, each getting three hits. Wally Joyner walked twice and singled twice, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.

Of the Angels’ major league lead in home runs, Manager Gene Mauch said: “It’s nice, but it’s the last thing I want them thinking about. I don’t care about Downing and DeCinces. They can handle it. But I don’t want the kids thinking about it.”

Amid all the recent thunder, the Angels had lost three straight games, their pitchers having allowed 25 earned runs in the process.

The Brewers collected 12 hits Tuesday night, but the Angels found some relief when they needed it most.

DeWayne Buice supplied it after John Candelaria had allowed 11 hits and the five Milwaukee runs in 5 innings.

When Candelaria sniped at the call of a ball on Robin Yount in the sixth, he was ejected by plate umpire Mike Reilly. Buice, the 29-year-old right-hander who was recalled when George Hendrick went on the disabled list recently, defused an inherited threat in that sixth inning and allowed only an infield single over the final 3 innings to gain his first major league victory in a 10-year career spent almost entirely in the minors.

This was only Buice’s third major league appearance, all since his recall by the Angels.

Dennis Packer, the Big A’s public address announcer, informed the crowd that the win had gone to DeWayne Boose.

Buice (rhymes with ice), a clubhouse comic with a reputation for impersonations, laughed and said that people have been mispronouncing his name since kindergarten.

“No big deal,” he said after refusing to let the Brewers or his first regular-season appearance in Anaheim Stadium intimidate him.

He replaced Candelaria with one out and runners at second and third.

Neither Yount nor Glenn Braggs were able to get the ball out of the infield. It was the last Milwaukee threat. Buice later credited his parents for their support in sustaining his career through a decade in the minors.

Of his ability to shut down baseball’s hottest team, Buice said: “It’s a feather in my cap, but I never doubted I could do it. Those guys are free swingers and I throw a lot of junk. The combination of the two can produce a lot of popups and strikeouts.”

Mauch had Buice warming up when Candelaria was ejected.

“The umpire made the move for me, but six would have been it for Candy anyway,” Mauch said. “He wasn’t operating with his best equipment.”

Candelaria, who came in 3-0, acknowledged that. The Brewers had scored three runs in the first and solo runs in the fourth and sixth. The best thing that can be said for Candelaria is that all of the Milwaukee hits were singles.

“This was a great team effort and I made it hard for them,” he said of the Angel comeback.

What had he said to get ejected?

“Let’s just say I didn’t ask him what kind of day it was,” he responded. “I thought that I had thrown a strike and I thought that I had thrown a couple earlier that he had called balls. It was a difference of opinion and he didn’t like mine.”

Mauch, of course, had to like the Angel offense, even though he doesn’t want his younger players swinging for home runs. The Angels scored 17 runs in the two games with the Brewers, whose pitching remains a suspect commodity despite the 17-2 start.

“We had ‘em beat twice but one got away,” Mauch said.

Angel Notes Donnie Moore, booed consistently at Anaheim Stadium since yielding that home run to Dave Henderson in Game 5 of last year’s playoffs, may have gotten his loudest reaction yet as he returned to the dugout after yielding the tying run in the ninth inning of Monday night’s game. “I don’t like it, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” Moore said. “As long as they don’t mess with me personally, it doesn’t bother me. I mean, that’s (booing) what they seem to come to the park for. That’s how they get their enjoyment. As long as they keep coming, that’s the only thing that matters.” . . . Moore added, however: “I’m not out there trying to give the game away. I know some guys who wouldn’t be out there at all if they felt the way I do.” Moore alluded to the strain in the area of his rib cage. “I’m about 75 or 80%, no more,” he said, “but then once I start pitching and the adrenaline starts pumping, it’s not so bad except on certain pitches. Last night, I just couldn’t get loose in the bullpen. The more I pitched, the better it got (Moore gave up three hits in the ninth, then retired the side in order in the 10th and 11th). I’m hoping that with warmer weather I’ll finally be able to get rid of the pain.” . . . Gene Mauch on the Brewers: “Truthfully, I felt that if they played .500 this year they’d be doing a hell of a job.” . . . Butch Wynegar remained sidelined by a swollen big toe on his right foot. . . . Joe Coleman, the Angels’ minor league pitching coach, will fill in on the varsity’s coaching staff while bullpen coach Bob Clear is in Centinela Hospital Medical Center for treatment of a disk problem. . . . Monday’s game marked the first of 33 straight for the Angels against Eastern Division teams.