Buice Gets Loss, and Then He Gets Angry, 4-3 : Defeat in 10th Inning by Texas Drops Angels Nine Games Back of Leader

You really know the Angels are out of the American League West race when they lose a late September game in the 10th inning and their tenacious little relief pitcher, DeWayne Buice, sits in the locker room afterward and complains about a scorer’s decision.

Buice wound up the losing pitcher Saturday night in a 4-3 Texas victory when he gave up a ground-ball double to Bob Brower and a bloop RBI single to Scott Fletcher. He was upset over both hits, but was particularly irked that Brower’s three-hopper off shortstop Dick Schofield’s glove was ruled a double.

“Double?” Buice asked incredulously. “Don’t even use that word. . . . That’s the cheapest double I’ve ever given up. They’ve got to change it (the call). To call that a double is totally ludicrous.

“If the official scorer thinks that’s a double, he should go officiate basketball--a sport he knows something about.”

Brower’s grounder caught Schofield between hops and kicked off the heel of his glove, rolling into shallow center field and dying on the grass. Brower alertly rounded first base and kept sprinting, beating center fielder Devon White’s relay to second with a slide.

Buice believed the play should have been scored an error.

“Well, yeah. If you ask Schofield, he’ll certainly tell you that was no double,” Buice said.

“Now, I’m not putting him down. Schoey is a fantastic shortstop. I’m glad we’ve got him. But it’s bad enough getting a loss like that--and then getting an earned run to boot. I don’t usually (complain) about anything, but that was ridiculous.”

Buice, a 30-year-old rookie who spent a decade’s apprenticeship in the minors, is earning the major league minimum this season--$62,500. He has made the most of his first chance in a big league bullpen, saving a club-high 16 games, and now could have his first chance at a six-figure salary.

The way Buice sees it, every little bit now will count later.

“I’ve been on a salary drive all year,” he said. “It’s a necessity for me to put up good numbers. I’m 30 years old. If I don’t put up good numbers, I’ll go back to the Mexican League and they’ll give some 20-year-old rookie my job.”

So, was the play an error?

“I thought it was,” Schofield said. “I dunno, that’s a play that could have been made. I guess the scorer saw it differently.

“It’s a ball you get by laying back on it or going for it on a hop. It caught me in between hops.”

When word of this discussion--double or error--got back to Gene Mauch, the Angel manager bristled.

“Buice told you that?” Mauch asked. “I’ll talk to Buice. All he should care about is winning the game.”

Buice (6-7) lost this game when Fletcher drove in Brower with a bloop single to center field. When Brower crossed home plate as White bobbled the ball, the Angels lost their third straight game, fell to 4-13 in September and dropped 9 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins in the AL West.

That’s the Angels’ largest deficit in the standings since 1983--when the Angels followed up Mauch’s first divisional championship with another miserable encore performance.

The Angels had two major opportunities to win this one, in the 7th and 10th innings, but Doug DeCinces played a key role in scuttling both.

With runners on first and third and one out in the top of the seventh, DeCinces was called upon by Mauch to pinch-hit for Gary Pettis. DeCinces proceeded to do what Pettis does best--strike out--and when Wally Joyner followed with a foul-out, the ending came to a close.

The Angels also had runners on first and second with one out in the 10th, with DeCinces leading off second. DeCinces’ led off a little too much, however, as Texas reliever Mitch Williams picked him off with a whirl and a throw to second. DeCinces was caught in a rundown and another scoring opportunity was thwarted.

Afterward, Mauch avoided questions about DeCinces’ pickoff, onlymuttering, “We are fast approaching an all-time low in futility with men on base.”

Angel Notes

A beleaguered Don Sutton met the press after (a) failing to earn his 10th victory again, and, (b) having a home plate umpire question him about a scuffed baseball again. Sutton lasted just 5 innings Saturday, allowing 5 hits, 3 runs and throwing one ball that umpire John Shulock determined was unsuitable for play. Shulock interrupted the game in the bottom of the fifth inning to question Sutton and then remove the ball from play. “We only found one ball that was questionable,” Shulock said, “but I honestly can’t tell you if that spot was put on the ball by Don Sutton or by the dirt.” Sutton, who has be searched and spied upon by zoom-lens cameras due to suspicion of chicanery this season, said he is tired of the controversy. “Either I’m the incarnation of Houdini or there’s a witch-hunt going on,” Sutton said. Also frustrated by his 9-11 record, Sutton hinted that he is considering retirement after 1987. “All the precincts haven’t reported yet, so I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’ll probably have a pretty good perspective on the last day of the season. I’m not having any fun and I don’t think anybody else is having any fun, either. It’s tough to keep rationalizing that I pitched just well enough to lose. It’s no fun coming back in here and explaining over and over to you guys how we barely lost.”

A 26-year-old Angel record was eclipsed Saturday on an intentional walk in the seventh inning. With it, Brian Downing became the club’s all-time leader in walks during a single season with 97. Downing began the night with 95 bases on balls and was walked twice, enabling him to pass Albie Pearson, who walked 96 times during the Angels’ first season (1961)