After Deluge, Lynn’s Homer Beats Angels : Baltimore Wins 9th Straight Over California, 6-5, in 9th

The Angels lost a baseball game to the Baltimore Orioles Friday night, which is nothing new, except maybe for the way they lost it.

After rallying from a five-run deficit, after receiving five shutout innings from beleaguered relief pitcher Chuck Finley, and after an 18-minute rain delay that interrupted the bottom of the ninth inning, the Angels lost their ninth straight to the Orioles, 6-5, when Fred Lynn hit the fifth pitch following the delay into the right-field seats.

Lynn, pinch-hitting for rookie Mike Hart with one out in the bottom of the ninth, turned a 3-1 fastball by Finley into his 21st home run of the season--extending, in startling fashion, what has to rank as one of the remarkable streaks of the 1987 season.

The Orioles have the third-worst record in the American League (59-69) and are a paltry 13-39 against their own division. Yet, they are 9-1 against the Angels, with all nine victories coming in succession.

Need another reason why the Angels remain stuck in fourth place in the AL West, three games under .500 at 63-66?

Friday night’s defeat may not rate as the most exasperating ever incurred by the Angels at Memorial Stadium, but it probably deserves honorable mention. Finley (2-6) hasn’t enjoyed much success this season, but what little he’s had came against Baltimore. As he entered the game in the fourth inning, replacing starter Mike Witt, Finley carried with him a streak of 12 scoreless innings against the Orioles.

The streak had reached 17 innings by the time Finley prepared to face Lynn with the score tied, 5-5, in the ninth. He had allowed just a pair of singles in this game and had retired the last five batters he faced.

Then came the rain.

Before Finley could throw a pitch to Lynn, a sudden downpour forced the umpires to halt play with one out in the ninth. The rain didn’t last long, which was probably to Finley’s disadvantage.

“It lasted about 15 minutes,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said. “That’s about like sitting through another inning. If it went another 15 minutes, I might not have brought him back.”

But Finley did come back--and so did Lynn. Five pitches later, Finley’s scoreless streak was over.

“I’ll probably have dreams tonight about a fastball over the plate,” Finley said. “You hate to see it end on one pitch. I made a lot of good pitches tonight, but right now, what sticks out in my mind was that one pitch to Lynn.”

Finley claimed the rain delay didn’t bother him.

“Nah, it wasn’t long enough to hurt me,” he said. “It didn’t bother me a bit. Since Lynn (a left-hander) was batting, Gene kept me in. He might have made a change if it was anybody else, a right-hander batting. But I told him I was strong enough.”

If the delay didn’t harm Finley, it could only help Lynn, according to Angel left fielder Brian Downing.

“I don’t think Freddie expected to hit,” Downing said. “Unfortunately, the delay gave him a little chance to warm up.”

Downing had a point. Wasn’t Baltimore Manager Cal Ripken bucking the odds, using the left-handed Lynn as a pinch-hitter against the left-handed Finley?

“They were probably almost out of ammo by that point,” Finley said. “They were trying to get anything they could going.”

Ripken may have noticed one other thing: Lynn’s previous three home runs had all come against left-handed pitchers, including two last week against the Angels’ John Candelaria.

Lynn got something going, all right.

With one swing, he wiped out a rare Angel comeback--five runs in the fifth and sixth innings after Witt had fallen behind, 5-0, after three innings.

Witt, 4-9 in his career against Baltimore, lasted just three innings, surrendering five runs on seven hits. Included were a two-run home run by Hart and a two-run double by Ray Knight in the third.

At that juncture, Mauch not only changed pitchers, he changed entire batteries. Out came Witt and his catcher, Bob Boone. In came Finley and Jack Fimple.

“Boone called a lot of bad pitches,” Mauch grumbled.

Finley proceeded to shut down the Orioles, buying the Angels enough time to forge a tie.

Fimple drove in the first Angel run with his first American League hit and then scored on a bloop single to center by Downing. In the sixth inning, Wally Joyner hit a bases-empty home run, and Dick Schofield hit a two-run shot to even the score at 5-5.

Between Joyner’s 26th home run and Schofield’s ninth, however, Bill Buckner was deprived of an infield single when umpire Steve Palermo called Buckner out on a close play at first base. Baltimore first baseman Eddie Murray juggled the ball and had to scramble to make a toss to pitcher Mike Griffin. Buckner doesn’t run well, but he appeared to beat this play, as television replays showed.

That would have made Schofield’s home run a three-run homer, and Lynn’s home run would have only tied the score at 6-6.

Instead, Lynn made Finley a loser.

“For the last month, month-and-a-half, I’ve pitched pretty darn well, but I can’t get a break,” Finley said. “They get a hit here, a hit there and I get an ‘L’.

“You keep trying to go out there with a positive mind . . . “

Finley’s voice trailed off.

“Hopefully, my luck will change,” he finally added. “But this . . . this tops it all.”

Angel Notes Since leaving the Angels and signing as a free agent with Baltimore in 1985, Fred Lynn has hit eight ninth-inning home runs, four of them game-winners. Friday night’s was Lynn’s ninth home run against his ex-teammates and his third in the past eight days. “It’s good to let them know you’re still alive,” he said. Angel Manager Gene Mauch said he wasn’t surprised to see Baltimore Manager Cal Ripken use the left-handed Lynn as a pinch-hitter against left-handed relief pitcher Chuck Finley. Lynn was batting for Mike Hart, another left-hander. “Hart has hit two home runs,” Mauch said. “Lynn has hit 200, maybe 300.” . . . When the locker room doors were opened to the media, Don Sutton could be seen consoling Finley as he sat in front of his locker. “I told him that it wasn’t fair,” Sutton said. “He threw 90 pitches, he had a 2-to-1 strike-to-ball ratio, every time he needed a pitch, he made it. This was as good as he’s been all year. Unfortunately, you won’t see that in the box score. In every other situation, if he’d given up only one run in six innings, everybody would be talking about what a wonderful job he did. It’s not fair, but then, nobody ever said it was.” . . . Jack Fimple replaced Bob Boone in the fourth inning and collected his first hit of the season in the fifth, a run-scoring single off Baltimore starter John Habyan. Before that, Fimple had batted just twice this year. Yet with Butch Wynegar out for the season and Darrell Miller sidelined at least through Sept. 1 with a broken finger, Fimple figures to be listed as the Angels’ No. 2 catcher when teams are required to announce their playoff rosters Aug. 31. Because Miller is on the 15-day disabled list, he could be reactivated during September and used during the playoffs, if the Angels get that far. . . . Rosters can be expanded to 40 on Sept. 1, but Mauch said no more than five players figure to be added to the current squad of 24. Along with Gary Pettis, others expected to be recalled from Edmonton are first baseman-outfielder Mark Ryal and .330-hitting outfielder Tack Wilson. Pitcher Jack Lazorko is another possibility.