Orioles Pick On Sutton and Pull Out a 2-1 Win

Another chance to gain a little ground in the American League West passed the Angels by Wednesday night.

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Boddicker, despite a pinched nerve, was a pain in the neck for the Angels, who fell below the .500 level for the first time since July 4 with a rather lackluster 2-1 loss before 25,824 spectators at Anaheim Stadium.

Boddicker combined with Mike Griffin and former Dodger Tom Niedenfuer to hold the Angels to four hits and keep them from picking up a game on the division-leading Minnesota Twins, who were 7-1 losers to the Detroit Tigers.

Niedenfuer got the Orioles out of an eighth-inning jam and closed it out in the ninth for his ninth save.

Angel Manager Gene Mauch didn’t care much for the ending but couldn’t deny that it was a game loaded with subplots. Among them:

--The sixth-inning ejection of Angel right fielder Ruppert Jones and subsequent appearance of Tony Armas, his first in an Angel uniform and first in the major leagues since last October. Armas’ first at-bat came with one out in the eighth and the tying run at second base. After a rather ambitious swing and miss, Armas flied out to left field. Jack Howell then grounded out, and the threat went unfulfilled.

--Frank Robinson’s return to the managerial ranks. With Cal Ripken Sr. back in Maryland to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Robinson was left in charge and found himself and some of his players questioning the legitimacy of some of the pitches thrown by Angel starter Don Sutton.

--An eighth inning that saw the Angels get their first two runners on base but fail to advance them, in part because of Mark McLemore’s failure to lay down a sacrifice bunt. McLemore swung at and missed one Neidenfuer pitch, then fouled off two bunt attempts for a crucial strikeout.

Boddicker left the game after the fifth inning, reportedly because of a pinched nerve he had suffered while warming up in the bullpen before the game. The pain in his neck couldn’t have been too great, however, as Boddicker proceeded to retire the first 11 batters he faced and allow only one run and three hits before being replaced by Mike Griffin in the sixth.

Meanwhile, the Orioles were giving Sutton all kinds of trouble over the baseballs he was throwing. When they weren’t asking plate umpire Don Denkinger to inspect them for Joe Niekro-like blemishes, they were taking them to the outer reaches of the Big A.

Denkinger confiscated a number of baseballs to send to the American League office for further inspection.

“I only warned him,” Denkinger said. “I don’t know if he’s guilty. (Robinson) came out and complained in the fifth inning. He brought a couple of balls with him. I looked in my pocket and I had one too.

“I told Sutton if he scuffed any more, he’d be gone. They took him out after the next inning.”

Sutton’s fifth pitch of the game was driven into the right-field seats by Baltimore leadoff man Jim Dwyer, and before you could say, “Emery board,” the Angels found themselves behind, 1-0.

Terry Kennedy made it 2-0 with one out in the second, hitting the first pitch from Sutton well into the seats in right field. It was the 31st homer that Sutton has allowed this season.

The Angels ran themselves out of an opportunity to get to Boddicker with two outs in the fourth. Wally Joyner broke the string of Angel outs with a sharp single to right field. Bill Buckner followed by pulling a ball down the right-field line, allowing Joyner to ease into third base, but Buckner tried to stretch it into a double. Riding on bent wheels, Buckner couldn’t make it. Right fielder Larry Sheets fielded the ball near the corner and threw to Cal Ripken Jr. to cut down the sliding Buckner for the final out of the inning.

The Angels got their only run in fifth on an RBI single by Bob Boone. With one out, Devon White walked, then enabled Dick Schofield to reach first base on a fielder’s choice by breaking up a double play with a hard slide into Oriole second baseman Billy Ripken. The Baltimore infield immediately claimed interference on White’s part. Robinson joined in on the discussion, but second base umpire Drew Coble was not convinced. Schofield then stole second and scored when Boone dropped a single in left field.

Angel Notes Manager Gene Mauch said he plans to start left-hander Jerry Reuss Friday night in the first of three games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Reuss came off the disabled list last Sunday after missing two weeks with a strained right calf. . . . General Manager Mike Port, on Gary Pettis’ demotion to Triple-A affiliate Edmonton: “This is going to be a positive, constructive thing for him. There’s still a lot of ability there. I suspect that 2 1/2 weeks down the line, or perhaps sooner, he’s going to come back and make believers out of a lot of people who have not been to this point.”