Armas’ Homer Helps Angels Beat Niekro, 3-1

The Angels didn’t sign Tony Armas and recall him this week from Edmonton specifically for this moment, but whenever Phil Niekro brings his flighty knuckleball to Anaheim, the Angels need to assemble all the help they can get.

Before Friday, Niekro was 2-0 with a 0.56 earned-run average in 1987 against the Angels, who regard Niekro’s knuckler as the eighth wonder of the world. But the pitch does not hold the same mystique for Armas, and knowing this, Angel Manager Gene Mauch inserted Armas in the starting lineup against the newly acquired Toronto pitcher.

Armas responded with his first home run as an Angel, helping push California past Niekro and the Blue Jays, 3-1, before an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 47,926.

This home run, coming with the bases empty in the sixth inning, was Armas’ first since last Aug. 31 and his second since Aug. 24. Each of those three home runs had one thing in common.

Armas hit all of them off Niekro.

As a member of the Boston Red Sox, Armas totaled 11 home runs in 1986, the last two coming against Niekro when he pitched for the Cleveland Indians. Both have since traded uniforms, but Armas, a career .375 hitter against Niekro, is still getting the better of the confrontation.

“I hit the knuckleball pretty good,” said Armas, who was recalled Tuesday to replace the slump-ridden Gary Pettis. “I hit Hough (Texas’ Charlie Hough, another knuckleball specialist) pretty good, too. I have more patience on those pitches.”

Armas’ homer, which followed Devon White’s 21st homer in the sixth inning that broke a 1-1 tie, made a winner of Jerry Reuss for the first time since July 1.

Reuss (4-1) hadn’t won in five decisions before being placed on the disabled list Aug. 5 with a pulled left calf muscle. On Aug. 5, his ERA was 4.46.

But in his return to the rotation Friday night, Reuss limited the Blue Jays to one run through 6 innings to outpitch former National League rival Niekro, whose record slipped to 7-13.

In the seventh, Reuss gave way to Greg Minton, who worked the final 2 innings to earn his 10th save.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Angels, who moved within 4 1/2 games of first-place Minnesota and brought a smile back to Mauch’s face.

“This is a nice step in the right direction,” Mauch said. “If we can beat Phil Niekro, anything’s possible.”

Niekro took a 6-3 career record and a 2.23 career ERA against the Angels into this game, having beaten them by scores of 2-0 and 2-1 while with Cleveland this year. The home runs by White and Armas were the Angels’ first off Niekro since he joined the American League in 1982.

Reuss seemed an unlikely candidate to end Niekro’s dominance of the Angels. Reuss hadn’t pitched in three weeks and had been hit hard in four of his last five starts, his ERA rising from 1.61 to 4.46.

Mauch, however, looked at Friday night’s start as an opportunity for Reuss to start over again. Perhaps thinking wishfully, Mauch likened Reuss’ situation to the one he faced June 21--when Reuss made his first American League start.

In that one, Reuss shut out the Kansas City Royals, 8-0.

“I had no idea what to expect in that first game,” Mauch said, “and he threw a nine-inning shutout. I’m looking at this thing the same way.”

Mauch didn’t get precisely that, but Reuss allowed 8 hits and only 1 run. He walked 1 and struck out 6.

After retiring the first four hitters he faced, Reuss gave up a single to Cecil Fielder, a double to Kelly Gruber and a ground-out to Garth Iorg. That gave Toronto its run. Reuss then came back to retire eight of the next 10 Blue Jays.

He began to tire in the sixth and seventh, yielding two hits in each inning, but escaped both times without allowing a run.

Juan Beniquez and Jesse Barfield opened the sixth inning with singles and George Bell followed with a sharp grounder to Dick Schofield at shortstop. Schofield gambled successfully, throwing to third forcing Beniquez.

Reuss then struck out Fielder and got Gruber to pop to Wally Joyner at first base.

With one out in the seventh, Reuss gave up a single to Rance Mulliniks and a double to Charlie Moore, Toronto’s No. 9 hitter. Mauch kept Reuss in to pitch to one more left-hander, Lloyd Moseby, who scalded one right at third baseman Jack Howell. The ball short-hopped Howell’s chest, but Howell hung on to throw out Moseby.

Mauch then summoned Minton, who walked Beniquez, loading the bases, before striking out Barfield.

“Reuss went out there with a definite plan and he stayed with it,” Mauch said.

And that plan was?

“I won’t tell you,” Reuss said. “I’ll keep it a secret.”

Reuss did allow that he was throwing harder than before he went on the disabled list.

“It’s been three weeks,” he said. “I’m not sure what they got me on the radar gun but the important thing is that it was moving well when it was down.”

The Angels figure to face Niekro one more time this season, in early September when they visit Toronto for three games. Expect Armas in the starting lineup.

Angel Notes

Owner Gene Autry, a pregame visitor in the Angel clubhouse, said he is willing to talk with the Rams about the scheduling conflict that, for now, leaves the Rams without a place to play their Sept. 20 game against the Minnesota Vikings. But he said he’s waiting for the Rams to call. “It wouldn’t have to be Georgia (Frontiere),” Autry said. “Anybody with the Rams. (But) nobody has talked to me or even asked me about changing the date. I don’t want to get in a fight with the Rams. Hell, I get along with them fine. I just haven’t talked to anybody about it.” The Angels have a clause in their stadium lease that prohibits the Rams from using Anaheim Stadium 36 hours before an Angel game and the Angels are scheduled to open a homestand against Chicago Sept. 21. Said Autry: “That started, more or less, years ago with the World Football League team and the damned soccer team (the Southern California Sun and the California Surf, respectively). Of course, the field was so dug up that I said, ‘The hell with that.’ We’ve got to have a couple of days, at least 36 hours, to get the field in shape. In between the concerts and the football, there’d be divots (in the field) like I play golf. It’s got to stop some place.”

Manager Gene Mauch kept Doug DeCinces out of the starting lineup, claiming DeCinces’ strained left shoulder could use the rest. So could his bat. DeCinces has a career batting of .125 against Phil Niekro--3 for 24. . . . Toronto shortstop Tony Fernandez also sat out the game with a strained knee. Fernandez underwent a scan in the afternoon, which showed a minor strain of the ligament. His playing status is listed as “day-to-day.” . . . Bill Buckner tried out a new, sleek pair of low-top cleats Friday, shelving his red Johnny Unitas specials for at least one night. “I’ll be flying tonight,” Buckner joked during batting practice. “I’ll be going from second to third to home.” . . . Former Cal State Fullerton baseball Coach Augie Garrido was honored in a pregame ceremony. Garrido, leaving Fullerton for the University of Illinois, received a plaque and a handshake from Titan Athletic Director Ed Carroll, who noted Garrido’s accomplishments in a short speech--two NCAA championships and 12 conference titles in 15 years. Before the ceremony, Garrido was feted by the school’s athletic department at a restaurant across the street from Anaheim Stadium.