This Time, Royals Bring Their Bats, Beat Angels

In a series against the Angels last weekend at Kansas City, the Royals scored only one run but still managed to win one of the three games.

So, when they broke out of their hitting slump against Angel pitching Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Anaheim Stadium, it figured that they might win.

And win they did. Easily.

Limited to 14 hits last weekend, the Royals had 9 against four Angel pitchers Thursday night, including home runs by Danny Tartabull and Willie Wilson, in a 10-4 victory before a crowd of 42,923.

Wilson had three hits, and Frank White drove in three runs to help Royal right-hander Mark Gubicza end his four-game losing streak.

Gubicza, who had not won since May 18, limited the Angels to a pair of singles in the last six innings to improve his record to 4-8.

“It was no masterpiece by any means,” Gubicza said, “but it’s something I can build on.”

Gubicza had not pitched poorly in a 4-0 loss to the Angels last Saturday night, but he was victimized by his teammates’ lack of offense.

The Royals, shut out by the Angels twice in less than 24 hours Saturday and Sunday, had lost four straight games before beating the Oakland A’s, 10-5, Wednesday night.

The Royals had not scored in 24 innings against Angel pitching--since George Brett’s fourth-inning double at Kansas City Friday night scored the only run in a 1-0 Royal victory--before they broke out in the third inning Thursday night.

Willie Fraser, who shut out the Royals on 4 hits in 90-degree heat and oppressive humidity Saturday night, felt the heat again after walking Angel Salazar and giving up a lollipop single to center field by Wilson.

Kevin Seitzer followed with a single to center, scoring Salazar, and continued on to second base when center fielder Devon White threw to third. With first base open, Fraser walked Brett intentionally, loading the bases with one out.

Fraser then struck out Tartabull and was one out away from getting out of the jam.

The damage was still only minimal. The Angels, having scored twice in the first inning on an RBI single by Wally Joyner and a first-and-third, run-scoring double play grounder by Jack Howell, still led, 2-1.

But White, extending his hitting streak to five games, followed with a double off the base of the left-field wall, scoring Wilson and Seitzer, and Bo Jackson singled back through the middle, scoring Brett and White.

“A rookie pitcher had a rookie pitcher’s inning,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said of Fraser. “A fact of life is, every rookie pitcher will have an inning where he pitches like a rookie.

“Just about every mistake a rookie pitcher can make, he made that inning . . . walking the eighth hitter . . . pitching Tartabull as well as a batter can be pitched, and then laying a fastball in Frank White’s eyes.

“You’d be angry at a veteran pitcher for an inning like that. But you understand when it’s a rookie.”

The Royals’ 5-2 lead was cut to 5-4 in the bottom half of the inning when Joyner singled and Howell lined a Gubicza pitch over the wall in straightaway center field for his 12th home run.

Fraser (3-5) got himself in trouble again in the fifth, walking Brett, who had almost ruined Fraser’s first major league shutout in the ninth inning Saturday night, doubling high off the wall and missing a home run by only a few feet.

Tartabull followed with a towering fly ball that landed just beyond the wall in left field for a two-run homer, increasing the Royals’ lead to 7-4.

Fraser worked a 1-2-3 sixth but was lifted after that, having made 93 pitches. He saw his earned-run average climb from 2.96, which ranked sixth in the league, to 3.51. Last week against the Royals, Fraser made only 103 pitches in nine innings.

He was replaced by his roommate, Chuck Finley, who promptly gave up singles to Wilson and Seitzer and a run-scoring double to Brett before giving way to DeWayne Buice.

Buice yielded a sacrifice fly to White, making it 9-4, and most of the crowd started heading for the exits.

Who could blame them?

In games they’ve trailed after seven innings, the Angels are 0-31.

Wilson homered in the eighth to complete the scoring.

Angel Notes

Brian Downing, dropped to the middle of the lineup for most of the last month, on his return to the leadoff spot: “In the past month and a half, I’ve blown every situation I’ve been in. He (Manager Gene Mauch) just couldn’t keep me down there. He had no choice but to put me on top and get me out of the way. . . . I’m just happy to be in the lineup, the way I’ve been playing. I could be hitting ninth. I wouldn’t care.” In his return to the leadoff spot Wednesday night, Downing played a key role in the Angels’ 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers, getting on base his first three times up and scoring two runs, but was obviously agitated after the game. “I’ve been upset about a lot of things--on and off the field,” he said. . . . Downing, who set a club record Thursday night when he led off and was hit by a pitch for the 67th time in his career, was batting .307 as a leadoff hitter entering the game but just .223 otherwise.

Donnie Moore, whose return to the active roster was placed on hold when he experienced arm soreness after a workout Tuesday in the bullpen, was scheduled to meet with Angel doctors after the game, then pitch on the side today and Saturday. He hasn’t thrown on consecutive days since going on the disabled list May 29, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. . . . Royal Manager Billy Gardner said that Jim Eisenreich will be used as a pinch-hitter for about a week, or until George Brett is healthy enough to play third base. Eisenreich will then be used as a designated hitter. . . . Angel hitting coach Moose Stubing said shortstop Dick Schofield, who was 6 for 15 and had hit in four straight games before Thursday night, was coming out of his slump “a little bit. He’s using his hands a little bit more. He’s throwing his bat at the ball.” . . . The Royals announced that right-hander Bob Stoddard, recalled Wednesday from Omaha, will start Sunday, making his major league debut against John Candelaria. . . . The games Saturday night and Sunday will not be televised, as was incorrectly reported in Thursday’s editions. . . . Former Dodger pitcher Jerry Reuss, released by the Cincinnati Reds earlier this month, threw for the Angels Thursday afternoon. Angel Manager Gene Mauch said Reuss threw well, and the Angels plan to look at him again.