Guzman Flirts With No-Hitter, Settles for a Win

No Texas Ranger has pitched a no-hitter since 1977, a streak that remains intact due to certain events that have transpired the last two times the calendar read June 16.

On June 16, 1986, Charlie Hough had his now infamous flutter with history--where a Wally Joyner single and two passed balls turned a ninth-inning no-hit bid into an Angel victory.

One one year later, Jose Guzman embarked on a challenge of his own. Through seven innings Tuesday night at Anaheim Stadium, Guzman had faced the minimum amount of Angel batters--21. And with one out in the eighth, he was still in possession of a no-hitter.

Guzman lost it when the next batter, Doug DeCinces, doubled just beyond the reach of Ranger first baseman Pete O’Brien. And although the Angels did mount another late rally, and although Guzman was not around at the finish, the 24-year-old right-hander did succeed where Hough had failed. He and the Rangers beat the Angels, 5-4, holding on in a ninth inning strangely similar to last year’s.

Mitch Williams, Texas’ first relief pitcher, took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth and immediately walked the first two hitters, Mark McLemore and Devon White. That brought on Dale Mohorcic, who got two outs, the second coming on a potential double play ball that should have ended the game.

But after forcing White at second, Ranger second baseman Jerry Browne misfired on his throw to first, enabling McLemore to score and the batter, Brian Downing, to safely reach base.

DeCinces then stepped up and, on a 1-and-2 count, popped a ball back toward the Texas dugout. Ranger catcher Mike Stanley raced to the railing, got his glove on the ball . . . but couldn’t hold on.

Another chance for DeCinces.

And given that chance, DeCinces deposited Mohorcic’s next pitch over the left-field fence for a two-run home run, cutting Texas’ lead to 5-4.

Another Ranger heartbreak seemed in the making.

Only this time, there were no Hough knuckleballs, sent flip-flopping their way toward home plate. And there was no Orlando Mercado, the harried Texas catcher who let two of those knuckleballs skip past him, thus bringing on the collapse of ’86.

This time, Mohorcic shut down the threat, striking out Jack Howell and giving the Rangers their second win in as many games against the Angels in 1987.

But if Tuesday’s game bore any semblance to the one played right here 365 days earlier, Angel Manager Gene Mauch claimed not to know of it.

“I didn’t even remember it (Hough’s near no-hitter) until you mentioned it,” Mauch told a reporter.

Mauch was still immersed in the moment at hand.

“That was the best game I’ve ever seen him pitch,” Mauch said of Guzman, who was 9-15 as a rookie last year. “He’s changed his style. He used to throw that rising fastball. Now he’s mixing in a little sinker. It has helped him.”

Guzman (5-5) watched Mohorcic wrap up the victory on a television in the visitor’s clubhouse. Unlike Mauch, the memories of last June came rushing back as he stared at the screen.

“Yeah, I was thinking of Charlie’s game last year,” Guzman said. “I’d love to go and finish the game and make the no-hitter, but then I think, ‘At least I want to win.’ ”

Said Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine: “I wanted to make sure he wasn’t thinking that his job was over. Nothing had ended except the no-hitter. You often see a guy carry a no-hitter into the seventh or so and then the emotional letdown sets in. It’s tough to get it back up.”

Guzman walked just two batters through the first seven innings, erasing both runners on double plays in the second and third innings. He retired the Angels in order in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

He also finished with nine strikeouts, a career high.

Meanwhile, the Angels’ John Candelaria (5-3) failed to pitch out of the sixth inning for the fifth time in his last six starts. He lasted 5 innings Tuesday, allowing all five Texas runs, although the first two came courtesy of the Angel defense.

After Pete Incaviglia and O’Brien opened the second inning with singles, Stanley lofted a fly ball to White in right field. Both runners tagged and Incaviglia broke for third. When White’s throw went through to third, O’Brien was freed to advance to second.

The missed cutoff throw gave Texas an extra run when DeCinces let a grounder by Steve Buechele skid just past his right leg for an error. With Incaviglia and O’Brien in scoring position, both players came home on the play.

“That did not help,” Mauch said of White’s errant throw. But of DeCinces’ play, Mauch argued with the official scorer’s ruling.

“That ball ate him up,” he said. “That ball was blistering.”

Four innings later, the Rangers scored some earned runs.

Singles by O’Brien and Stanley and a walk to Oddibe McDowell loaded the bases with one out. Buechele brought O’Brien in with a sacrifice fly to right. Browne scored the other two runners with a triple into the gap in left-center, ending Candelaria’s outing for the evening.

“Obviously, he’s not all the way back yet,” Mauch said. “We saw some flashes of the old John Candelaria, like in the third inning, when he was throwing 90 miles an hour. He threw great then, but he can’t yet do it inning after inning.”

Guzman, meanwhile, made it through seven innings with an upset stomach. “He was throwing up between innings,” Valentine said. “We think it’s something he ate.”

And in each of those innings, the Angels failed to produce a base hit. It must have been something they saw--or couldn’t see.

Angel Notes

Donnie Moore threw for 11 minutes in the bullpen under the surveillance of Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann before Tuesday’s game. “He threw hard and he had a pretty good slider,” Lachemann reported. “He’s pretty close (to being ready to rejoin the team). It’s a question of how he comes out of it tomorrow. He said he had no discomfort today. If he can feel all right tomorrow, we would be where we want to be. But if there’s some soreness or stiffness, we’d have to re-evaluate.” . . . The Angels’ other disabled pitcher, Kirk McCaskill, also had a pregame workout, throwing 49 pitches--the equivalent of three innings--in a simulated game. Said Lachemann: “His velocity was close to his average, but he was inconsistent with the curveball; he threw some real good ones and some real bad ones.” McCaskill is scheduled for another simulated game Saturday. If McCaskill passes that test with no pain, the next step would be a rehabilitative stint at Palm Springs, where he would pitch for the Angels’ Class-A team. . . . With Moore on the disabled list, the Angels’ pitching staff has been down to nine for the past week. For a 10-game span (June 4-14), that gave the Angels a surplus of two as they completed that stretch by using only seven pitchers--the five starters plus DeWayne Buice and Greg Minton. Chuck Finley, the losing pitcher in Monday’s 9-7 Texas victory, had last appeared in a game on June 3. And Gary Lucas, who relieved John Candelaria in the sixth inning Tuesday, hadn’t pitched since May 30. “You’ll have times during a year when you can do that,” Lachemann said. “Then there are times when you need all 10 pitchers--and sometimes 11.”