Athletics Beat Angels on Eighth-Inning Balk

Another impressive start by Dan Petry and Wally Joyner’s long-awaited first home run of 1988 are terrible things to waste, but the Angels’ bullpen did precisely that Monday night at the Oakland Coliseum.

For seven innings, Petry held the powerful lineup of the Oakland Athletics to two runs and six hits, giving Joyner enough time to stroke his first home run of the season--a two-run shot in the top of the eighth to give the Angels a momentary 4-2 lead.

But that advantage evaporated almost as quickly as Angel Manager Cookie Rojas grabbed the ball from Petry and placed it into the right hand of relief pitcher DeWayne Buice. Buice surrendered two hits and a sacrifice fly to the first three batters he faced, enabling Oakland to tie the game, and then balked home the winning run.

Petry began the seventh inning for the Angels but stayed on the mound only to face one batter, Terry Steinbach, who singled up the middle.

Buice then replaced Petry and Mike Gallego replaced Steinbach as a pinch-runner. Buice then proceeded to work to his first hitter, Stan Javier, and immediately wild-pitched Gallego to second.

Javier followed with a double to right, scoring Gallego, and Hubbard singled Javier to third. Javier scored the tying run when Angel second baseman Mark McLemore misplayed Carney Lansford’s grounder into an error.

One out later, Buice walked Jose Canseco to bring up a pinch-hitter by the name of Don Baylor. But before Buice could complete his confrontation with the former Angel, third base umpire Nick Bremigan called him for a balk.

Hubbard was waved home from third, and the A’s went ahead.

The balk, Buice’s second of the season, was the second of the game, matching the run Oakland starter Curt Young balked in during the third inning.

The Angels had a chance to tie the game in the top of the ninth, with McLemore singling and stealing second with two outs. But A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley retired Brian Downing on a ground out to shortstop to end the game.

It was Eckersley’s fifth save of the season. Buice, meanwhile, was charged with the loss, dropping his record to 0-2.

The Athletics entered the game with a 6-6 record and were coming off a sweep at home to the Chicago White Sox. This kind of a start is somewhat below expectations in the Bay Area, where the countdown to 100 wins began on opening day.

Part of the problem is the new balk rule. In short, the Athletics’ pitching staff has entirely balked at the new interpretation, which resulted in 18 balk calls in Oakland’s first 12 games.

No. 19 came in the third inning Monday when Curt Young balked home McLemore from third base. And that, incredibly, tied the Athletics single-season record, set in 1986.

McLemore had reached third after walking and taking third on a single to right field by Downing. When he scored, the Angels assumed a 2-0 lead--thanks to Chili Davis’ double and Joyner’s RBI single in the first inning.

The Angels could have used more balks from Young. Aside from Joyner’s hit, which accounted for his third RBI of 1988, the Angels botched every other scoring opportunity during the first seven innings--with two runners getting thrown out at the plate.

In the second inning, the Angels had Jack Howell on third and Bob Boone on first when Dick Schofield struck out with a running play on. Boone broke for second and Oakland catcher Terry Steinbach fired a throw to second baseman Glenn Hubbard. Boone then pulled up and Howell took off for home.

Hubbard immediately threw home and his relay easily beat Howell, who retreated toward third and was eventually tagged out by Lansford.

In the fifth inning, the Angels had Johnny Ray on first base with two outs. And again, Howell was involved in an out at the plate.

Howell hit a chopper to the left of the mound, over a leaping Young to a charging Walt Weiss, the Oakland shortstop. Weiss’ running throw pulled first baseman Mark McGwire off the base and McGwire tried to make a sweeping tag of Howell.

But McGwire’s sweep was much too grand, with the ball squirting loose from his glove and rolling down the right-field line. This encouraged Ray to attempt to score from first.

Ray, hardly the fastest of the Angels’ baserunners, finished second to McGwire’s long relay, Steinbach tagging him on the leg for the inning’s third out.

That play kept the score at 2-1 and brought the Athletics enough time to tie to score in the seventh inning. There, they got the run on Lansford’s infield single off Petry’s glove, a wild pitch by Petry and a single to left field by Canseco.

Angel Notes

Devon White missed his first start Monday night because of an inflamed right knee. White injured the knee while sliding during the Angels’ 5-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox last Wednesday, but had been trying to play on it. “It started to act up on the (artificial) turf in Seattle,” White said. “It’s a little stiff, but I could play on it.” Said Angel Manager Cookie Rojas: “If I need him, he’ll be out there. But I didn’t want to take a chance on a rainy day like this and have him slip on it.” . . . Tony Armas started in White’s place, taking a .412 average into the game. Armas was coming off a three-hit game in Seattle Sunday, his first three-hit outing since Aug. 21, 1986, when he was still with the Boston Red Sox. . . . Greg Minton threw again for 15 minutes before Monday’s game, with Angel physical therapist Roger Williams calling it “a pretty good effort. He threw all fastballs and said he felt good. He’s making some progress.”

George Hendrick, presiding judge over the Angels’ newly formed kangaroo court, handed out this season’s first round of “awards” prior to the series opener in Oakland. The presentations: A broken bat handle to Jack Howell, for the “funkiest swing” in the Seattle series; a gold-painted glove to Chili Davis, for the fly ball he dropped Friday night; a red-painted cleat, symbolic of bad baserunning, to Wally Joyner, for tripping on home plate while scoring on a balk; and a torn baseball to Ray Krawczyk, who earned his first major league save Sunday. And, in a special presentation, a red toilet seat was awarded Brian Downing, who was found Sunday banging his head against the wall of the clubhouse bathroom out of frustration over his 3 for 27 batting slump. Before Monday’s game, Hendrick hung each trophy over the appropriate recipient’s locker--a practice he plans to continue after the completion of every series this year. . . . No award was given Donnie Moore, although this statistic should certainly be worth something: In the 2 innings he has pitched thus far, Moore has allowed eight hits. Opposing hitters are batting .571 (8 for 14) against the Angel reliever after his first three outings.