Home Remains Sour as Angels Lose to Brewers

There were 40,241 fans at Anaheim Stadium Friday night to welcome the Angels back from their successful swing through the Midwest.

The Angels had won five of six games against Kansas City and Minnesota and, maybe even more significant to those who like to see a little action with their baseball, they scored five or more runs in all but one of those games.

But the Angels ended up losing to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4, in 11 innings Friday night as their home record dropped to 11-22, the worst in baseball.

The Angels managed just three hits in the first seven innings before staging a mini-rally in the eighth that tied the game, 3-3, and sent it into extra innings.

Less than half of the original crowd saw the finish, but those who were willing to hang around got a healthy dose of excitement. The Angels may have lost this one, but they didn’t go quietly, or quickly.

The Brewers scored twice in the 11th inning, but the game went down to the final pitch--a big rainbow curve that Chili Davis took for a called third strike with the bases loaded.

After the game, Davis was wandering around in the bowels of Anaheim Stadium, searching for the umpire’s room.

“Where are the umpires?” he asked an usher.

Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said that home plate umpire Drew Coble called strikes on “two pitches that were balls.”

“He’s not going to change that, though, so I’m not going to go chasing after him,” Rojas said.

The Brewers took a 5-3 lead in the 11th after Rob Deer opened with a double, took third on a sacrifice and scored on Paul Molitor’s two-out single. Billy Jo Robidoux, who had been walked intentionally, scored on Bryan Harvey’s wild pitch to give Milwaukee the margin of victory.

The Angels, hardly tigers at home this season, didn’t roll over, though. Tony Armas stroked a one-out single to left and Darrell Miller, pinch-hitting for Bob Boone, followed with a single to right with Armas taking third.

Armas scored when Dick Schofield hit a sharp grounder to third that Molitor relayed to Jim Gantner at second. Schofield beat Gantner’s throw to first to keep the inning alive.

Johnny Ray picked up his third hit of the night, a double to right-center and then reliever Charlie Crimm intentionally walked Wally Joyner to load the bases. That brought up Davis, who fouled off one pitch, took a high strike and then watched the game-ending curveball.

Lost in all this, was another outstanding outing by left-hander Chuck Finley, who has become one of the Angels’ most consistent performers in a season were most of his teammates have had lots of downs and few ups.

Finley (4-8), who had recorded a career-high 8 strikeouts by the fourth, finished with 10. He gave up 3 runs and 7 hits in 9 innings.

His biggest flaw Friday was in an area in which he has excelled. He came into the game having allowed just 4 home runs in 102 innings, but he gave up a pair of solo shots this time out.

The Angels managed to push across a run in the fourth, but it wasn’t exactly the kind of offensive outburst that characterized the recent road trip, when they had five consecutive games with 10 or more hits.

Brian Downing and Jack Howell drew walks, and Devon White looped a dying line-drive single to center to score Downing. Brewer shortstop Dale Sveum ended the threat, however, when he made a staggering stab of Armas’ hard grounder up the middle to start an inning-ending double play.

Finley, who had not allowed a home run in 32 innings, gave up a no-doubt-about-this-one shot in the second inning. Deer lined a rocket into the second deck in right-center and everyone in the park knew it was a homer a split-second after Deer’s swing.

The Brewers’ second run also came via the solo homer, but this time it came from a less likely power source: catcher Bill Schroeder. With one out in the fifth, Schroeder hit a towering fly to left. Schroeder, who had just one homer this season, was running hard, but Finley apparently knew where the ball would land. While everyone else watched the flight of the ball, he stood in front of the mound, holding his glove up, waiting for a new ball.

The Brewers took a 3-1 lead in the eighth on a single, two intentional walks, a balk, their fourth and fifth stolen bases of the night and a sacrifice fly by Sveum.

The Angels finally awoke from their slumber in the bottom of the eighth, however. They couldn’t do much with starter Bill Wegman, totaling just three hits in the first seven innings, but when Milwaukee closer Dan Plesac came in to pitch the eighth, they re-discovered the offensive groove.

With one out, Joyner lined a single off Plesac’s leg and, with two out, Downing hit a shot into the gap in right-center that hopped over the wall on one bounce. George Hendrick, pinch-hitting for Howell, dropped a two-run single into center to tie the game and then was out trying to take second when center fielder Robin Yount threw home.

Angel Notes

Second baseman Mark McLemore, who underwent surgery to remove a clotted vein from his right arm June 17, had the stitches removed Friday and said he will start light throwing on Wednesday. “I haven’t done anything but ride the bike since the operation,” McLemore said. “There’s no real timetable, but I think I should be ready to play in about two weeks. I’m not going to rush it, though. I’m not going out there at 95% or even 98%. I’m waiting until I’m 100%.”

McLemore, who has been out of action since May 23, said he will wait to see how his arm reacts to Wednesday’s workout before he decides when he will start swinging a bat. “There were no complications, and they say everything’s going well,” he said.