Minton Has a Few Break His Way as Angels Defeat Royals, 6-3

Greg Minton, the Angel relief pitcher who has been without a curveball, figured he was about to become a man without a team, his days numbered by Donnie Moore’s imminent return from the disabled list.

“I had a 9:45 tee time at Imperial with Butch Wynegar Monday morning,” said Minton, knowing full well that the Imperial Golf Course is located in Brea and the Angels, on Monday morning, will be located in Minneapolis.

“Somebody was going to have to go, and it didn’t take a brain surgeon to know who was low man on the totem pole. I hadn’t gotten anyone out in weeks. If you have a pitcher trying to go through a whole season with one pitch, what would you do as a manager?”

But before Cookie Rojas, the Angels’ manager, was required to make that decision, fate--or at least DeWayne Buice’s left hamstring--intervened. The Angels put Buice on the disabled list Friday, which made room for Moore to be reactivated Saturday, and Minton, at least temporarily, received a stay of release.

Then, Saturday night, he received the ball and was told to retire Kansas City Royals for as long as he could. He wasn’t sure if he would get another chance. So, Minton decided to let it all ride and throw the pitch he couldn’t deliver without elbow pain until this week.

The curveball was back--and four innings later, Minton was still on the mound, applying the finishing touches to the Angels’ 6-3 victory before 40,642 fans at Royals Stadium.

What’s more, Minton didn’t allow a hit. Entering the game with no outs in the sixth inning, two Royals on base and the Angels holding a 3-2 lead, Minton surrendered the tying run on a sacrifice fly, got another out via an outfield assist and then, after walking Bill Pecota, retired the last 10 Royal hitters in order.

More than two runs had been sliced off Minton’s earned-run average--from 8.25 to 6.18--and the Angels, who benefited by winning their third straight game, may have been convinced to let Minton stick around for a while.

“This is only one good game,” said Minton (1-1), “but I can tell you, I won’t be as bad as I was the last few times. With the curve, I know I can be a quality pitcher the rest of the year.”

Without the curve, Minton was little more than a late-inning rally waiting to happen. The elbow he blew out in spring training hurt every time he tried to throw a curveball in April and May, so Minton tried to stage his comeback nearly defenseless--with a not-so-fastball and a pseudo-slider, something he picked up in an attempt to pad his slim repertoire.

The slider wasn’t much of a replacement.

“Let’s be honest,” Minton said. “I’ve thrown the curve since I was 10 and the slider since May. The slider is not going to be a great pitch for me.”

Opposing hitters knew this, too, so they sat and waited for the fastball. Before Saturday, they did this well enough to bat .352 against Minton.

Ten days ago, in near desperation, Minton dusted off the curveball again. Just to experiment.

“I just kinda flipped one--and it didn’t hurt,” Minton said. “When I first came back, I didn’t think I would ever be able to throw a curveball again. I couldn’t even roll a curve. If I threw one hard, the elbow would go.

“But over the past couple weeks, I threw it four times in the bullpen and had no problems. I was antsy to get in there and try it again.”

Just in the nick of time, too. If Buice’s hamstring hadn’t acted up when it did, Minton would have been working on his slice instead of his curve, back in Orange County with Wynegar.

“I wasn’t going to be on the road too much longer,” Minton said. “It was going to be, ‘Honey, you want to go to the beach this summer? We’re going to see a lot of shopping malls.’ ”

Minton’s last stand in Kansas City developed when Angel starter Chuck Finley couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead. Finley opened the sixth inning by surrendering a triple to Willie Wilson and a single to Pat Tabler, hitting George Brett with a pitch and giving up another run-scoring single to Kevin Seitzer.

Minton replaced Finley, and the first batter he faced, Frank White, hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Brett scored from third base, but Seitzer ran the Royals into a double play by tagging and attempting to advance to second. Right fielder Chili Davis’ throw beat him to the base for the second out.

After striking out Mike Macfarlane to end the inning and emerge with a 3-3 tie, Minton recorded three successive perfect innings. The score remained tied in the top of the ninth, before the Angels broke loose for three runs against Kansas City relievers Jerry Don Gleaton (0-1) and Steve Farr.

Johnny Ray, making his first start since last Sunday, drove in the decisive run with an opposite-field single that just skimmed past the glove of a leaping Kurt Stillwell, the Royal shortstop. Glove touched ball again on Brian Downing’s run-scoring single--a pop fly that grazed the mitt of second baseman Frank White--and a sacrifice fly by Davis brought home the Angels’ third run of the inning.

Three outs later, Minton brought home the Angels’ fourth victory in their last five games, moving them within two games of the fifth-place Chicago White Sox.

“It’s no reason for whooping and hollering,” Minton said, “but at least, people are talking to each other again. Three weeks, nobody in this clubhouse had a friend on the team.”

And Minton, for the time being, has a team again. Wynegar will have to find another partner for Monday.

Angel Notes

After missing five games with a strained right shoulder, Johnny Ray returned to the starting lineup Saturday and went 2 for 5, including the game-winning single off Kansas City relief pitcher Steve Farr. Ray is a switch-hitter and his bad shoulder can make hitting left-handed a painful proposition, which factored into Royal Manager John Wathan’s decision to bring in the right-handed Farr to pitch to Ray. “When Johnny came back to the dugout (while the Royals changed pitchers), I asked him if he wanted to try it left-handed,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said. “He told me ‘I feel good,’ so I let him stay up there.” Ray responded by lining a single off the glove of shortstop Kurt Stillwell, scoring Darrell Miller from third base. Asked if he considered taking himself out of the game at that point, Ray said: “Not hardly. With two guys on base, you got to want to be in that situation. I didn’t really get a good swing; I was fortunate to get it over Stillwell’s head. But I didn’t feel any pain.” Added Rojas: “It’s good to have a pro back in the lineup. He’s been the best hitter we’ve had all season.”

Donnie Moore rejoined the Angels after spending 37 days on the disabled list, his third such stint since last May. While he was there, Moore made five rehabilitative appearances for the Class-A Palm Springs Angels. His numbers: 8 innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 2 earned runs, 2.25 ERA. Moore last pitched in a major league game on May 7. . . . Butch Wynegar remains on the disabled list because of an arthritic toe condition, and Rojas is beginning to doubt whether Wynegar will be able to return this season. “He’s put some supports in his shoes, which may help him a little, but he’ll never be 100%,” Rojas said. “I don’t have too much hope.”

Bo Jackson, the recuperating Royal/Raider, watches home games from the press box as he waits for his torn left hamstring to heal. Last week, Jackson put down his crutches and began stretching exercises, but he still cannot work out with weights. Next week, the Royals hope to test Jackson on the Cybex machine to determine the amount of strength in his leg. No target date for Jackson’s return has been made, but the Royals will be happy with late July. Interesting statistic: Kansas City is 13-4 since Jackson got hurt.