Another Angel Starter Is Lost; So Is Game, 6-4

The announcement came over the Anaheim Stadium press-box loudspeaker Friday night at almost the exact time as a similar announcement one night earlier. It almost sounded like a recording, only the name was different.

“Attention media, Willie Fraser was removed from the game because of tightness in his right shoulder. It is not considered to be serious.”

Question: How many starters can leave in the fifth inning of successive games with a stiff shoulder before it’s considered serious?

If you ask Angel Manager Gene Mauch, the answer is two.

Thursday night, Mike Witt (9-5) staggered through 4 innings before he had to leave when his shoulder tightened.

Friday night, Fraser, who at 5-6 has as many wins as anyone on the team besides Witt, gave up 4 runs and 5 hits in 4 innings before leaving the game, which the Angels ultimately lost to Milwaukee, 6-4.

Brewer Manager Tom Trebelhorn knows all about pitching woes, too. His team is second to last in earned-run average (only Cleveland is worse), but he had his ace, Teddy Higuera, on the mound Friday night.

Of course, for the Brewers, an “ace” means a 7-7 record and an ERA of less than 5.00. But Friday night, Higuera looked a lot more like the left-hander who won 20 games last season and finished second in the American League Cy Young Award balloting. He went the distance, allowing eight hits, before a crowd of 32,759.

“Not serious?” Mauch mused when told of the announcement. “Hmmph. They’re all serious to me until the ouches disappear.”

Fraser only hopes this one vanishes as suddenly as it appeared.

“I don’t know what happened,” the 22-year-old rookie said. “It came out of nowhere. I had good velocity and was throwing pretty good, and then all of sudden in the fourth, the stiffness hit me.”

He had the trainers help him stretch it out between innings, but he felt a sharp pain on his first warm-up pitch.

“I haven’t felt anything like that this year,” he said. “It hurt too much to throw. It concerns me right now, but as long as I take care of it and nip it in the bud, I think it’ll be all right.”

Dr. Jules Rasinski examined Fraser and found a “tender spot” in his shoulder, but the Angels said Fraser is not expected to miss a turn.

The Angels and the Brewers picked up Friday night where they left off early Friday morning. After playing almost 4 1/2 hours Thursday night (the game ended at 12:06 a.m.), the teams took almost an hour to complete the first two innings Friday night.

The Angels scored twice in the first, and they could have had more. After Devon White reached first base on shortstop Dale Sveum’s throwing error, Dick Schofield doubled him home. Schofield then stole third and scored on Doug DeCinces’ single to center.

George Hendrick walked, and Butch Wynegar singled to center to load the bases, but Wally Joyner--second in league in RBIs with 66 before Friday--bounced back to Higuera for an easy pitcher-catcher-first base double play.

The Brewers came back with a run in the second when Ernest Riles hit his first homer of the season.

The Angels countered with a run in the bottom of the second when Gary Pettis walked, took second on Mark McLemore’s sacrifice and scored on Brian Downing’s double. It was the first time Downing had come through with a runner in scoring position since May 23, going 0 for 27 in those situations.

Milwaukee took a 4-3 lead in the fourth, however, scoring three times on a walk, two singles, a run-scoring ground-out and a sacrifice fly. Fraser wasn’t getting drilled, but he wasn’t reminding anyone of Sandy Koufax, either.

“His velocity was diminishing gradually,” Mauch said. “That last inning, he was down to 80 m.p.h.”

Gary Lucas came on to work the next three innings. Thursday night, he had allowed just one hit in two innings, and Friday night he didn’t give up any hits. The Brewers did score an unearned run in the seventh, though, when Sveum reached first on DeCinces’ fielding error and--after a pair of walks loaded the bases--scored on Greg Brock’s sacrifice fly to left.

Higuera, meanwhile, had fallen into the kind of groove that carried him to a 20-11 record last season. The Angels got two hits in the fifth--a line drive to right by Downing and a dunker to right by Schofield--but they went down in order in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh against the left-hander. Higuera retired nine in row before Hendrick hit a solo homer to left in the bottom of the eighth.

In the top of the eighth, the Brewers had gone ahead, 6-3, against Donnie Moore, who was making his first appearance since May 24. The one-time ace of the Angel bullpen got a few boos from the crowd--and little help from his defense. Schofield, who had committed just seven errors, let Riles’ leadoff ground ball go through his legs. Glenn Braggs doubled Riles home, but Moore retired the next three hitters to elude further damage.

Angel Notes

Decision Day at the Big A: General Manager Mike Port and Manager Gene Mauch had just finished a private conversation early Friday evening when Mauch grabbed Port’s shoulder and--flashing a mischievous grin--motioned toward a group of reporters waiting for an announcement about disabled pitchers Donnie Moore and Kirk McCaskill. Port, straight-faced, declined the offer to report the news. So Mauch did the honors. “OK, here it is,” he said. “Donnie Moore has been activated and is eligible to pitch tonight. Kirk McCaskill will pitch Sunday (for Triple-A affiliate Edmonton) in Phoenix. And Darrell Miller has been assigned to the Edmonton club.” See how simple it can be, Mike? . . . Actually, it wasn’t quite that simple. Miller wasn’t assigned to Edmonton. Instead, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 23, because of a sprained joint in the third finger of his left hand. Miller, obviously expecting to be sent down, said earlier in the afternoon that his hand had been bothering him and he hoped to be put on the disabled list instead. He got his wish.

Mauch said he has “absolute confidence” that McCaskill is capable of pitching five innings, but he wanted to wait until the young right-hander could go seven. “I think one more good, solid outing to help build up his endurance and stamina will be helpful,” Mauch said. . . . Mike Witt, who left Thursday night’s game after 4 innings because of stiffness in his right shoulder, told Mauch that he was fine Friday. “Mike said to me, ‘Skip, I’m OK,’ ” Mauch said. “So we’re going under the assumption that he’s OK. It’s not like a pain sets in. It’s just a tightness, an inability to get loose.” Trainer Ned Bergert said the club was taking a wait-and-see approach with Witt. “It’s not like this is something totally new,” he said. “It’s been going on, off and on for awhile.”

Mark McLemore, whose first major league homer gave the Angels a 9-7, 13-inning victory Thursday night, admitted that the idea of hitting one out of the park to end the 4-hour 28-minute marathon did cross his mind. “I think there was a lot of that going on in everyone,” he said, smiling. “It was a memorable first home run, though. I thought it had a chance as soon as I hit it.” Chance? McLemore can be excused because of limited opportunities to watch home runs from the vantage point of the batter’s box, but his line drive landed 393 feet from home plate, carrying over the right-field fence at the 370 sign.