Candelaria Continues His Comeback Cycle : Pitcher Returns to Form Against Orioles After Saturday’s Loss to A’s

John Candelaria, the American League’s 1986 Comeback Player of the Year, has made more comebacks in this season alone than Muhammad Ali ever made in his boxing career.

Twice, the left-hander has returned from stints on the 15-day disabled list for “personal reasons,” which stemmed from his two drunk-driving arrests. While he was away from the team, Candelaria also spent 28 days in a rehabilitation center.

It appeared that Candelaria had put those troubles behind him when, on Aug. 5, the day he was reactivated for a second time, he pitched six innings of shutout ball to help the Angels defeat the Minnesota Twins, 6-1.

But since that victory, which brought the Angels to within a half-game of the first-place Twins, Candelaria had reached new pitching depths.

He lost his next two starts, including Saturday night’s four-inning debacle against the Oakland Athletics, in which he allowed eight runs on seven hits and put the Angels well on their way to a 13-3 defeat.

But Thursday night against the Baltimore Orioles, Candelaria made another comeback, pitching eight strong innings of five-hit ball in the Angels’ 4-2 loss in 12 innings before 27,004 in Anaheim Stadium.

The eight innings were Candelaria’s longest outing since Aug. 9 of last season, when he threw a complete-game three-hitter in the Angels’ 5-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Candelaria was denied a win Thursday when right fielder Tony Armas, who apparently had Fred Lynn’s fly ball into the right-field corner lined up for an out, had the ball bounce out of his mitt when a fan in the right-field bleachers interfered with the play.

That allowed the Orioles to tie the game, 2-2, in the top of the fifth inning, a score that held up until the 12th, when Baltimore scored two runs.

That didn’t leave Angel Manager Gene Mauch in the mood to talk about Candelaria--or anything else, for that matter.

“We wasted some mighty fine pitching,” he said.

Candelaria was not in the Angel clubhouse after the game.

His performance was quite a contrast to Saturday night’s--and to his first and only previous career start against the Orioles on Aug. 26, 1985.

Angel fans might remember that game. Oriole first baseman Eddie Murray hit three home runs and had nine RBIs in Baltimore’s 17-3 win. Only one of those was off Candelaria, who hung around for 1 innings but allowed seven runs on six hits.

The only two runs Candelaria allowed Thursday night were, surprisingly, solo home runs by Lynn, the ex-Angel and left-handed hitter.

Of the 195 homers that Candelaria has allowed in his 13-year major league career, only 20 have been hit by left-handers.

“He tried to work some balls away from Freddie, but both of them got inside,” Mauch said. “Freddie just turned on them.”

Candelaria struck out two and didn’t walk a batter, which was another improvement from Saturday night, when he walked four. It was one of the few times Candelaria, who has walked two or fewer batters in 13 of his 15 starts, had suffered control problems.