Yankees Feel Right at Home as They Sweep Angels, 4-2

With injuries mounting and maneuverability shrinking, Angel Manager Cookie Rojas was frustrated again Wednesday night by his disappearing offense.

The undermanned Angels had only four hits in losing to the New York Yankees, 4-2, in 10 innings before a crowd of 48,198 at Anaheim Stadium. Thus, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Angels, who scored only seven runs in the series.

The Yankees have won five straight games while the Angels have lost five straight, falling 14 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics in the American League West.

The Angels had only 3 hits off Yankee starter Charlie Hudson and were trailing, 2-1, when Johnny Ray, who had not started because of a bruised left elbow suffered when hit by a pitch Tuesday night, delivered a pinch-hit home run off Neil Allen with one out in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Dave Winfield then had the decisive blow for the Yankees in the 10th--a towering home run off DeWayne Buice with one out. It was the 10th home run of the season for Winfield, who leads the American League in runs batted in with 41.

The Yankees scored another run in the inning when Greg Minton walked Willie Randolph with the bases loaded.

New York had 14 hits against three Angel pitchers, but Buice and starter Dan Petry pitched creditably. Petry shut out the Yankees until the seventh, when catcher Joel Skinner hit a two-run homer.

It was the 10th career homer and first of the year for Skinner, who came in hitting .137.

It was also Skinner’s first homer since May 24 of last year, when he connected at Anaheim Stadium against Urbano Lugo. Skinner had 104 at-bats between those homers.

One mistake shouldn’t be fatal, but it has already become that type of season for Petry, who previously lost to Jack Morris and the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, and was leading the Athletics, 4-3, before Buice lost it, 5-4.

Petry turned back a series of early Yankee threats before an infield single by Rafael Santana set the stage for Skinner’s home run.

The Angels, held hitless by Al Leiter for the first 5 innings Tuesday night, had only one hit off Hudson through the first six innings of this one.

Singles by Wally Joyner and Chili Davis then put runners at first and third with no outs in the seventh. George Hendrick followed with a drive that Rickey Henderson caught on the warning track in left field, allowing Joyner to score and cutting the Yankee lead to 2-1.

“Hudson had pitched a sensational game, but he was out of gas at that point,” Manager Billy Martin said later, explaining his decision to bring in Allen, who got Jack Howell to ground into a double play that ended the inning.

There was one out in the ninth when Ray batted for Dick Schofield and hit his game-tying home run off Allen, the first pinch-hit homer for the Angels this year after they led the American League with nine last year. It was Ray’s second homer of the season and first since opening day.

But it only delayed the inevitable.

In the 10th, Winfield hit Buice’s 2-and-1 forkball into the field-level seats in left. Winfield later cited previous problems against Buice and said, “Tom Seaver never dogged me like he has, so I took a few pitches to see what he was throwing and finally got him good.”

There is little good to say about the Angels, who are 6-14 at Anaheim Stadium, where they open a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles Friday night. The Orioles are 2-19 on the road, making for a matchup that should not distract from the National Basketball Assn. playoffs.

Angel Notes

Catcher Butch Wynegar was scratched from the lineup because of inflammation in the joint of his big right toe, a condition that is similar--but not as serious, Wynegar said--to the one that limited him to 31 games last year. Angel Manager Cookie Rojas was left with Chili Davis as his backup catcher. “Hopefully we won’t get to that point,” he said. . . . Utility infielder Gus Polidor was available only for defensive purposes because of a strained rib cage muscle, and second baseman Mark McLemore remained sidelined with an irritated nerve in his right elbow and numbness in his right hand. He will be re-examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum today. . . . Donnie Moore pitched off a mound for the third time since going on the disabled list with a strained right knee and will do it again Friday, at which point, Rojas said, the Angels will choose between activating Moore or sending him to Palm Springs on a rehabilitation assignment. . . . On the decision to option Ray Krawczyk to Edmonton and recall left-handed relief pitcher Sherman Corbett, 25, from Midland, Tex., which the Angels announced after Tuesday night’s game, Rojas said it was a matter of needing a left-hander in the bullpen rather than five right-handers. “We’ve said that from the start,” he explained. “I mean, we opened the season with (left-hander) Frank DiMichele, but he was just a kid up from Class A. Why keep him here to face one or two batters occasionally? This guy (Corbett) has more experience and has been doing a good job.”