Angels’ White Is Father Timely in a 3-1 Victory

The travels of Devon White provided more fun and adventure than a Saturday morning cartoon, taking a rookie outfielder all over the western United States and the Angels, who were along for the ride, to their sixth straight victory.

There was White’s romp around the bases in the sixth inning of the Angels’ 3-1 victory over Chicago--on which White went to second base on a sacrifice bunt, kept running to third and hustled home when the throw got away from third baseman Steve Lyons.

There was White’s jubilant trot around the bases in the eighth inning--after White deposited a Floyd Bannister pitch into the left-field seats.

And before all that, there was White’s race against time and air traffic--with White catching a 7:30 a.m. PDT flight out of Los Angeles, arriving in Chicago at 12:30 p.m. CDT and bursting into the visitors’ clubhouse at Comiskey Park just 17 minutes before game time.

White flew home on Friday for the birth of his son, Thaddeus Markes, which caused him to miss one game. Not wanting to miss two, White booked the earliest flight he could Saturday morning and hoped, for once, that an eastbound flight into O’Hare Airport would arrive on time.

Angel Manager Gene Mauch drew up two lineup cards and had already posted the one without White’s name on the dugout wall when, at 2 p.m., an hour before the first pitch, White telephoned the Angel clubhouse.

Mauch smiled as he recounted the episode: “Devo called one of the clubhouse boys and said, ‘I’m at the hotel now and I’ve got to put my contacts in. Tell the man I’m on my way.’ ”

Mauch then sent the clubhouse attendant to the gate to look out for a taxi carrying one .285-hitting right fielder.

Said Mauch: “I didn’t want him getting to the park and having to explain who he was to the guard--’I’m Devon White.’ ‘Yeah, and I’m Charles O. Comiskey.’ ”

Mauch was waiting for White when the new father hurried into the clubhouse moments before the national anthem. Mauch tore up his old batting order and told White, “You’ve got 17 minutes.”

As White threw on his uniform, he told roommate Mark McLemore his modest plans for the day. “I want to do something for Thaddeus,” he said.

For two at-bats, White did nothing. He tapped to the pitcher in the first inning. He struck out in the third.

“The plan was to hit it out of the yard,” White said. “I wanted to do it the first at-bat. I was trying too hard.”

The home run came, but not before an exciting run home.

White walked to lead off the sixth inning, and Dick Schofield followed with a textbook sacrifice bunt. Schofield dumped the ball in front of the plate, catcher Carlton Fisk scooped it up and fired to first base for the out.

But Lyons, the White Sox third baseman, didn’t follow the textbook on the play, instead straying toward home plate. This caught White’s attention.

“Lyons broke from third and I kept going,” White said.

And going.

With White sprinting for third, Lyons scrambled back to the base, and first baseman Greg Walker threw the ball across the infield. Walker’s relay wasn’t close, bounding away from Lyons and enabling White to score what proved to be the decisive run.

“I think I got a glimpse of him as he went by the shortstop,” Mauch said. “There was no design to it. He saw a chance and he took it.”

Finally, with one out in the eighth inning, White got the chance to make Thaddeus’ day.

“I mentioned to Gary (Pettis) and Mark (McLemore) that I was going to try and hit it out on the first swing,” White said. “If that didn’t work, then I’d try to hit it to right field.”

White’s first swing did it. Home run No. 14 for the season, and No. 1 for Thaddeus. Call it Comiskey corn or Chicago sap, but no one in the Angel clubhouse was complaining about a bogus plot.

Especially not Angel starting pitcher Mike Witt, who, with the help of reliever DeWayne Buice, picked up his ninth victory of the season. Witt limited the White Sox to 8 hits in 7 innings before Buice finished up for his sixth save, striking out three of the five hitters he faced.

“I know Devo’s a happy guy today,” Witt said. “When I saw him go from first to home on that play, I said to myself, ‘He’s charged up. That’s one happy man.’ The home run was just icing on the cake.”

White had only one regret on this afternoon: He was unable to retrieve the home run ball. He wanted to give it to his son.

But that’s a problem White says he can work out.

“I’ll just get him another ball,” White said with a grin, “and tell him that’s the ball I hit for a home run his first day on Earth.”

Thaddeus probably won’t mind a little White lie.

Angel Notes

The Angels’ six-game winning streak is the club’s longest since last Aug. 24-31, when they won seven in a row. . . .After lasting just 2 innings in his previous start, Mike Witt went 7 Saturday, throwing what Gene Mauch called “127 hard-working pitches.” Witt described his outing as “a struggle. I only had one 1-2-3 inning (--the seventh). I’d call that a struggle.” According to Angel trainers, Witt has been bothered by periodic shoulder tendinitis, but Witt wasn’t complaining about it Saturday. “I never heard him mention it,” Mauch said. Witt said: “I don’t talk about it because it doesn’t bother me.”. . . . DeWayne Buice overtook Donnie Moore for the club leadership in saves with six. In his last three outings, Buice has a win and two saves. Buice saved this one despite feeling, as he put it, “like I was dragged through a keyhole. I’ve been sick all week--sinus problems, a head cold.” Buice still struck out three, including Darryl Boston on a wicked inside fastball. “That one felt good,” Buice said. “I may not look like it, but on occasion, I can fire that sucker up there. I think I lull some hitters to sleep. I did it with Boston. That pitch must’ve been 92 (m.p.h.) I think it surprised him. Hey, it surprised me, too.”

During the winning streak, the Angel pitching staff’s earned-run average is 1.83 (54 innings, 11 earned runs). Angel pitchers have allowed just three earned runs in the past three games. . . . White Sox Manager Jim Fregosi was ejected from the game in the seventh inning after arguing a strike call by umpire Ken Kaiser. It was the second ejection of the season for Fregosi, who stormed off the field and into the Chicago dugout, where he threw a batting helmet that nearly beaned a bat boy. . . . You Know When You’re Under .500 Dept.: The Angels’ next home stand was originally supposed to have included two nationally televised games--July 6 against Boston and July 10 against Detroit--with the games scheduled to start at 5:10 and 5:20 p.m., respectively. But with the Angels and the Red Sox owning losing records, ABC and NBC scrapped Game of the Week plans in Anaheim to televise more attractive matchups. Both games will start at 7:30 p.m.