Angels Ride Out Wild Ninth for 6-5 Win

Better teams than the Angels have melted under the big top the Minnesota Twins call home. And, certainly, better outfielders than Chili Davis have been confounded by the Metrodome’s hallucinogenic gray-and-orange ceiling. Strange things do happen here. The Twins won the World Series last year, didn’t they?

Still, the Angels had difficulty coming to grips with the events of Monday night’s ninth inning, where the Angels lost their grip on almost everything but a 6-5 victory that had Angel Manager Cookie Rojas smoking enough cigarettes for both himself and Gene Mauch.

By the time Bryan Harvey had finagled the final three outs, a 6-2 Angel lead had all but disintegrated under a barrage of Angel errors, three of them committed on successive plays.

With runners on first and second base with no outs, Angel third baseman Jack Howell couldn’t pick up Greg Gagne’s ground ball, loading the bases and cranking up the Metrodome volume to din level.

Then Angel right fielder Davis couldn’t catch Dan Gladden’s shallow fly ball--his second error of the night--and the Twins had pulled to within 6-3.

And then Angel second baseman Johnny Ray, turning the pivot on a potential double-play grounder, couldn’t hit first baseman Wally Joyner with the relay--throwing the ball away for a two-run error.

An entire team was suddenly collapsing all around Harvey. And so was his margin of error. Harvey’s lead was down to a run and Minnesota had pinch-runner John Moses on first base with only one out. Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek were scheduled to bat next.

It took a sensational defensive play by Joyner--running down the right-field line and over a bullpen pitching mound to catch Puckett’s foul pop fly--and a strikeout of Hrbek, the Twins’ cleanup hitter, before the Angels could call the victory their own.

Some victory, too. It was the Angels’ fifth straight, making this their longest winning streak of the season. Also, it ended the Twins’ five-game winning streak.

It also nearly wiped out the Angels bullpen. Because starter Dan Petry sprained an ankle while fielding a grounder in the fifth inning, Rojas had to bring in Sherman Corbett in the sixth inning, Donnie Moore in the seventh and Harvey in the ninth. Had it gone into extra innings, Rojas would have been down to Greg Minton, who pitched four innings Saturday night, and Stewart Cliburn.

“Complete and utter paranoia set in when I thought I’d have to go another four innings,” Minton said. “That would have been no bueno .”

Somehow, the Angels escaped. They wound up committing five errors, taking their cue from point man Davis, whose Metrodome christening included two dropped fly balls, his 11th and 12th errors of the season.

And this season is only 69 games old.

“What’s the major league record for errors by an outfielder?” Davis wanted to know in the Angel clubhouse.

Thirty-six, he was told.

Davis: “Was his name Davis?”

No, it was Bentley Seymour-- the Bentley Seymour--who misplayed the outfield for the Cincinnati Reds in 1903. At this rate, Davis will fall a bit short of old Seymour. Davis is only on a 28-error pace this season.

But the Angel record for outfield errors--14, set by Ken Hunt in 1961--is definitely within reach for Davis, maybe before the end of this series.

“Oh well,” Davis said. “I wasn’t going to win the Gold Glove anyway.”

Might as well win something.

Davis dropped two nearly identical fly balls, one by Brian Harper in the seventh inning and then Gladden’s in the ninth. Angel center fielder Devon White, who committed an error of his own, suggested that Davis’ problems might have been caused by the Metrodome’s funky roof.

“It’s beige at the top and in some places, the roof’s the same color as the ball,” White said. “There are holes in the ceiling. It was tough for me to see the ball out there--and if it was tough for me, it’s going to be tough for (Davis).”

Davis, however, vetoed that notion.

“All I had to do is catch the ball,” he said. “I had it. The ball was in my glove.

“I think I’ve got my glove turned inside-out or something. After the second one, I saw some kid in the upper deck tearing up my baseball card. I used to be his favorite player, too.”

The Angels, of course, were able to able to laugh about these matters because they had won. And they won, largely in spite of themselves and largely because of Joyner. Not only did Joyner make a saving catch on Puckett in the ninth, but he delivered a three-run home run in the eighth.

“Let’s not wait so long for the next one,” said Joyner, who also had two singles. He finished with 4 RBIs, finally bringing his season’s total to 30.

“It seems like every time the Angels come here, I do well,” Joyner said. “I guess I do have confidence here. I enjoying coming here.”

Joyner may have been a minority of one with that opinion in the Angel locker room. Monday night, all Joyner’s teammates wanted out of the Metrodome was out.

That they got their wish, and a victory to boot, was certainly more than any of them had reason to expect.

Angel Notes

The only thing more nerve-wracking than Monday’s ninth inning, at least to Angel Manager Cookie Rojas, was the last play of Monday’s fifth inning, when Dan Petry twisted his right ankle while fielding a ground ball off the bat of Kirby Puckett. Petry tried to continue in the sixth inning, but lasted only one warmup pitch before taking himself out of the game. “It was a little scary in the ninth, but I was more scared about Petry,” Rojas said. “When he got down on that ground ball, something went pop in his ankle. He came into the dugout and told me it hurt a little bit. Can you push off it, I asked him. He said he’d try, but when he went out there, he couldn’t do it.” The injury was later diagnosed as a first-degree, or mild, ankle sprain and X-rays were not required. Rojas said he wasn’t sure if the sprain would keep Petry from making his next scheduled start. . . . Donnie Moore (3-2) made his first appearance since May 7 and received credit for the victory. Moore pitched 2 innings, allowing 2 hits and 1 run. “I didn’t feel any (pain) out there,” Moore reported. “I overthrew a little, but I don’t think the knee will be any problem.” Moore said he could have worked a third inning, and fully expected to, before Rojas sent out Bryan Harvey to pitch the ninth. “I thought I was going to finish it out,” Moore said. “I was ready to go out there, but having two guys on the mound is not too good.” . . . Harvey, on the wild ninth: “It was my fault. I was throwing balls, putting guys on base. I let the crowd get back into it and that killed me. After I walked the first guy (Brian Harper), I threw two straight balls to (Greg) Gagne and crowd got loud. I’ve never pitched anywhere so loud. When I got that last out, my ears popped.”

Rojas may have cost Mike Witt a shot at back-to-back shutouts Sunday, but 17 scoreless innings were still good enough to earn Witt the American League’s player of the week award Monday. During the week of June 12-19, Witt went 2-0 against Texas and Kansas City, allowing 12 hits and striking out 11. He also lowered his earned-run average from 5.10 to 4.26. . . . With Les Straker on the disabled list, the Twins will pitch Fred Toliver tonight against the Angels’ Kirk McCaskill. Toliver, formerly with the Cincinnati and Philadelphia organizations, was recalled Monday from Minnesota’s triple-A affiliate in Portland, where he was 7-2 with a 3.13 ERA. As a major league player, Toliver, 27, is 1-7 with a 4.25 ERA.