Angels Put Away Twins Early in 16-7 Win

John Hays, the Angels’ senior vice president for marketing, scanned a nearly deserted Anaheim Stadium moments before game time Monday and managed a smile.

“It’s a gorgeous day, huh?” he said, looking up at a clear blue sky. “Everybody loves these 5:10 starts but me.”

The Angel hitters certainly didn’t mind being caught in the twilight zone this time around. And the Angel fans among a gathering of 22,167 that eventually filtered into Anaheim Stadium were treated to a Ramboesque baseball game--a few hours of nonstop action and a happy ending.

It was dark by the time the last out was recorded, but there were plenty of lights blazing on the scoreboard. The line score: Angels--16 runs, 17 hits, no errors. Twins--7 runs, 14 hits and 1 error.

By the end of the fourth inning, every Angel batter had at least one hit and had scored at least one run, except for right fielder Tony Armas, who didn’t accomplish either feat.

Almost everyone else in an Angel uniform had a field day. A quick recap:

--Bob Boone. The veteran catcher had four hits, including his second home run of the year, and a run batted in to go with each hit. It was the first time since Aug. 29, 1987, he had two extra-base hits in a game and his biggest offensive outing in almost a decade.

--Jack Howell. He hadn’t hit a home run in almost a month, but he hit a three-run shot Monday. He also had 2 singles, 2 walks and 4 RBIs.

--Wally Joyner. He had a double, a single, a walk and drove in three runs.

--Johnny Ray. The Angels’ most consistent hitter had a single, a double, a walk and scored three times.

--Devon White. The center fielder showed he is completely recovered from knee surgery by legging out a pair of infield singles and scoring three runs.

. . . This could go on, but you get the picture.

“It’s nice to have everyone contribute,” Manager Cookie Rojas said. “And it’s nice to win a few at home for a change. It’s nice to win big for a change, too.”

The Angels haven’t won this big in almost two years. The last time they scored 16 or more runs was Sept. 18, 1986, when they beat the Kansas City Royals, 18-3.

The benefactor of all this offense was Kirk McCaskill, who staggered through five innings. He threw 102 pitches and gave up 10 hits and 4 runs, but improved his record to 4-5.

The Angels have scored two runs or fewer in five of his starts this year, but McCaskill wasn’t about to fall back on the it-all-evens-out-in-the-end theory.

“That’s the rationale that everyone uses,” he said, “but the bottom line is how you do on a particular day and today I was pretty sorry.”

The first two Twins’ batters singled and eventually scored. And McCaskill retired the Twins in order just once. But the Angels scored a total of 11 runs in the third and fourth innings, and then it was just a matter of whether McCaskill would last the required five innings to get the victory.

The Minnesota pitching staff may have been due for a blowup. It didn’t allow a run in 18 innings against the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics Sunday when the Twins swept a doubleheader.

In fact, the most successful pitcher of the evening for the Twins was left fielder Dan Gladden, who put the Angels down in order in the eighth after four of his teammates who are paid to pitch were battered into submission.

The Angels’ five-run third was a combination of good hitting, good fortune and bad pitching. Ten Angels stepped up to the plate. Two (Joyner and Jim Eppard) walked. Three got hits off Twin players’ gloves or bodies (Ray singled off first baseman Kelvin Torve’s glove, Howell singled off second baseman Steve Lombardozzi’s glove and White singled off starter Fred Toliver’s leg). Dick Schofield and Boone each had more-routine singles (Boone’s was a line drive to center, and Schofield’s a grounder through the hole into right).

It all added up to a 5-3 Angel lead.

The Angels had so much fun, they one-upped themselves in the fourth, scoring six times. They again had five hits in the inning, but this time they had a bona fide double into the left-center gap by Ray, a big-time home run to straightaway center by Howell and a homer down the left-field line by Boone. It was the first time this year the Angels had two home runs in one inning.

Joyner also had a run-scoring single to right. The only slightly tainted hit was a bad-hop rocket hit by Brian Downing that caromed off the chest of shortstop Greg Gagne.

The Angels were hitless in the fifth, but they scored four more in the sixth with Boone driving in one on a double to left-center, Schofield one on a sacrifice fly and Joyner two on a double off the wall in center.

Eppard singled and scored the last Angel run of the night in the seventh as the last rays of twilight left the sky.

Angel Notes

Utility infielder Junior Noboa’s contract was assigned to triple-A Edmonton after Monday’s game and right-handed pitcher Jack Lazorko was recalled from Edmonton. Lazorko, who was 8-5 with a 4.01 earned-run average with the Trappers, will start tonight in place of Dan Petry. Petry, who twisted his right ankle while attempting to field a ground ball last Monday in Minnesota, said the ankle was a little sore and he did not want to risk pitching on it yet. Lazorko’s last three outings at Edmonton were complete games. Two were shutout victories and the other was a 1-0 loss.