A 3-2 Decision Over Chicago Ends Lazorko’s Wait for His First Win

Three years to the day after being called up to the major leagues for the first time, and 10 years after he started playing professional baseball, Jack Lazorko finally picked up his first major league victory Thursday night.

The stocky Angel right-hander scattered six hits in beating the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, before a crowd of 25,234 at Anaheim Stadium.

Afterward, Lazorko, 31, shouted across the clubhouse to teammate Don Sutton, whose resume includes 312 major league victories.

“Hey, Sut,” he cried, “how many more do I need to catch you?”

Said Sutton: “One this year.”

It’s been that kind of a season for the Angels, who had returned home late Wednesday night from a 1-7 road trip and had won only 4 of 20 games since May 11, falling into last place.

But all that seemed to be forgotten on a night when Lazorko gave his brother, Rob, a chance to break out the champagne.

“He’s got about five bottles in the refrigerator,” Lazorko said of his brother, who lives in Orange. “He told me, ‘We’re going to do it tonight.”

And with a little help from first baseman Wally Joyner, they did.

Or rather, Jack did.

Joyner drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, breaking a 2-2 tie by lining a single to center off relief pitcher Ray Searage to score Gary Pettis.

Then, in the ninth, after Harold Baines had led off with a single to right, Joyner made a diving, back-handed stab of a sharp grounder down the line by Greg Walker, turning it into a double play.

Lazorko, obviously excited, struck out Ivan Calderon for the third time, giving the Angels only their second victory by a starting pitcher since May 11.

And it pulled Lazorko within 311 career victories of Sutton.

Lazorko had pitched into the ninth in his previous three starts after being called up from Edmonton last month, but all he had to show for it were two losses and a no-decision.

“I think I had the same stuff,” he said. “I just got some breaks finally.”

And how did it feel?

“It feels very good,” he said, thinking back on a career that has taken him through seven different organizations, most of which used him as a reliever. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Said Angel Manager Gene Mauch, obviously touched by the journeyman’s dedication: “I don’t ever remember feeling any better for a player than I do for Lazorko right now....

“If the game means that much to you and you want something that badly, it creates special feelings.”

It was only the fifth major league start for Lazorko, whose only previous major league start before this season was made for the Milwaukee Brewers in the second game of a doubleheader on Aug. 22, 1984.

The Brewers had saved him from a life in the bushes, calling him up 2 1/2 months earlier on June 4, he said.

Exactly three years later, he finally notched his first win.

It didn’t come easily.

Until the eighth, the Angels had managed only one hit off White Sox starter Jose DeLeon, a one-out single to center in the third inning by Bob Boone, who had been 1 for 17.

They made the most of it, scoring twice as DeLeon then walked Mark McLemore and Gary Pettis to load the bases.

It looked as if DeLeon would escape the inning unscathed, though, when Devon White hit what appeared to be a double-play grounder to first baseman Walker. But Walker’s throw to second pulled shortstop Ozzie Guillen off the bag, enabling Boone to score.

Joyner followed with a sacrifice fly to shallow center, scoring McLemore.

The 2-0 lead lasted only until the fourth, when the White Sox tied it. Jerry Royster led off with a single to right and scored on a home run by Harold Baines, whose two-run blast sailed over the 370-foot sign in right-center.

DeLeon, who walked five, kept the lid on the Angels until the eighth, getting some help from his defense.

The most dazzling play was a leaping first-inning catch by center fielder Ken Williams that took a home run away from White. Another couple of inches higher and White would have had his third home run in as many nights.

But White Sox Manager Jim Fregosi went to his bullpen in the eighth, bringing on Searage after DeLeon had given up infield singles to Pettis and White, whose grounder toward right would have scored Pettis if second baseman Tim Hulett hadn’t knocked it down.

Fregosi no doubt later regretted his decision.

Joyner lined a single to center,setting the stage for his ninth-inning heroics.

Angel Notes Kirk McCaskill, who had bone chips removed from his right elbow April 27, threw for about 15 minutes before the game. It was the first time he had thrown off a mound since undergoing the arthroscopic surgery. “I felt real comfortable,” he said. “I felt like I could have pumped it out. I snapped off some good curveballs. . . . I could have aired it out, but I’m not supposed to. There’s still a little inflammation in there. They don’t want to mess with that.” McCaskill isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break, but he said Thursday that he hopes to be back July 2. “That would be about nine weeks (after the operation) and it’s the start of a homestand,” he said. . . . George Hendrick took batting practice for the first time since breaking the middle finger on his right hand April 21, wrapping a sponge around his bat to absorb the shock. “For a man who hasn’t hit the ball in five weeks, I thought he looked outstanding,” said batting coach Moose Stubing. “He had no pain. Now, at least we’ve got a starting point. We’ve got something to look forward to.” Manager Gene Mauch said that Hendrick could be ready to play as early as this weekend, but added: “I’ll be very happy if he’s back to normal by the time we play Kansas City.” The Angels will play the division-leading Royals seven times in 10 days, beginning with a three-game series at Kansas City June 12-14.

Donnie Moore, placed on the 15-day disabled list last Friday with recurring rib and shoulder ailments, threw on the side for about eight minutes before the game. “He felt better,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “His shoulder felt a little weak, but he had no pain at all in his side.”. . . . Despite a 1-7 record on their last road trip, the Angels lost only a half-game in the standings to the first-place Royals. . . . The Angels announced that they had signed catcher John Orton, their No. 1 choice in Tuesday’s major league draft. Orton, a junior at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), will be assigned to the Angels’ Class A Salem, Ore., farm team. . . . The starting time of the Angels’ Monday game against the Cleveland Indians has been changed from 5:10 p.m. to 7:35 p.m. . . . Deposed Dodger Vice President Al Campanis watched the game from a private box above the press box.