Lazorko Return Spoiled as Twins Beat Angels, 8-2

Jack Lazorko was in Las Vegas when he got the word Monday night: Anaheim calling again.

“They had to pull me off the craps tables,” said Lazorko, the Angels’ latest recall from Edmonton. And he wasn’t kidding. “I was doing well there, too.” he said. “I always do well in Vegas.”

Yeah, sure, Jack. That’s what everybody says.

“Hey,” Lazorko told a group of disbelievers. “You should see my kids’ bedroom. They’ve got a bunk bed and new furniture because of what I’ve won at Vegas.”

Lazorko makes these sort of bold claims. Another: He’s become a new and improved pitcher since his last stint with the Angels. Stronger legs, he says. Better control. A new preparation program that really works.

The evidence? Well . . .

Tuesday night marked Lazorko’s first Angel start of 1988--and it lasted only four-plus innings, as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Angels, 8-2, in front of 27,618 in Anaheim Stadium. Before he was finished, Lazorko surrendered 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks. He balked once and hit a batter. And, of course, there was that Lazorko trademark of ‘87--a home run pitch, this one to Gene Larkin in the second inning.

But then, that’s the difference between rolling dice and throwing pitches in the major leagues. Craps tables don’t hit back.

Meanwhile, Bert Blyleven (7-6) was beating the Angels with an eight-hit, complete-game effort. That’s another thing that hasn’t changed. Blyleven is 28-14 against the Angels.

And, more old news: Chili Davis made two more errors in right field. That gives him 14 errors, tying him with Ken Hunt for the Angels’ single-season record for most errors by an outfielder.

Hunt needed all of the 1961 season to commit 14 errors. Davis got the job done in 76 games.

Remarkably, neither error led to a run against Lazorko. But Lazorko got himself into trouble by different means. He served up a home run to Larkin in the second inning, gave up three straight hits and two runs in the third inning, and yielded a double and a single for another run in the fourth inning.

“That wasn’t the best I’ve seen of him,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said. “But, it’s just one game.”

Or is it? Lazorko was recalled by the Angels Monday to fill in for Dan Petry, who had to delay his next start again because of a sprained ankle. This amounted to a spot start for Lazorko, maybe a one-shot chance, although Lazorko, typically, was optimistic of much more.

“I plan on being here the rest of the year,” he said before Tuesday’s game. “Over the last two years, I’m 16-6 at Edmonton (he was 8-5 this year). I’ve got nothing left to prove in triple A. . . . My last four games were complete games, and two of them were shutouts. Another was a 1-0 loss to Tacoma.

“I sure hope it’s not a one-shot deal. I’m just going to go out and pitch tonight and see what happens.”

Lazorko extended his shutout streak one inning. But in the second, after striking out Gary Gaetti, he fell behind, 1-0, when Larkin hit his second home run of the season.

A year ago, Lazorko served up 20 home runs in 117 innings as an Angel--an average of one every 6 innings.

Angel defense helped sabotage Lazorko in the third inning. A one-out error by second baseman Johnny Ray put Kirby Puckett on base, and he advanced to third on Kent Hrbek’s single. Lazorko then balked, scoring Puckett and moving Hrbek to second.

Gaetti followed with a single, Hrbek stopping at third, and then Larkin drove in another run with a single.

Minnesota scored once more in the fourth inning when Dan Gladden hit a one-out double, followed by Randy Bush’s single to center.

When Lazorko began the fifth inning by walking Hrbek and Gaetti, Angel Manager Cookie Rojas called it a night and brought on Sherman Corbett from the bullpen.

Somehow, Lazorko emerged unscathed by Davis’ two errors. And that took some doing.

After Larkin’s home run in the second inning, Tim Laudner hit a single to right field. There, Davis bobbled the ball, enabling Laudner to reach second on the play.

Lazorko immediately hit Greg Gagne with a pitch, but struck out Steve Lombardozzi and Gladden to end the threat.

In the fourth, with two outs, Puckett lofted a high foul ball down the right-field line. Davis ran into foul territory to get his glove on the ball, but that’s all. The ball popped loose and Davis had his 14th error.

Puckett got a second chance but wound up grounding back to Lazorko to end the inning.

So what did Davis’ errors mean to this game? Nothing, really, except to show that Davis can still kick them, dislocated toe or no.

Davis never emerged from the players’ lounge in the Angel clubhouse to talk with reporters, so a crowd gathered around Lazorko.

“I felt good, I was throwing strikes,” said Lazorko, unflappable as ever. “(The Twins) just didn’t hit the ball at anyone.

“I don’t think one outing makes a whole career. I threw strikes tonight and they hit them. It happens. That’s baseball. . . . Sometimes the lion eats you and other times, you eat the lion.”

All Lazorko is asking is for another time in the ring. But that, depending on the condition of Petry’s ankle, might be too much to ask.

Angel Notes

Recalling Jack Lazorko leaves the Angels with 11 pitchers, a high number on a 24-man roster but apparently, a number the Angels will keep for a while. The club had the option of placing Dan Petry on the disabled list to make room for Lazorko, but instead chose to option little-used infielder Junior Noboa to Edmonton. “If we don’t put Petry on the disabled list, he has a chance to make his next start in Detroit,” Manager Cookie Rojas said. “On the disabled list, he’d have to miss 10 or 15 days.” Petry, scheduled to throw on the sidelines today, said he expects to take his regular turn in the rotation, which would be Sunday at Detroit, but then, Petry also said he expected to be ready last Sunday (Willie Fraser replaced him) and then again Tuesday. For the time being, the Angels list Mike Witt, Fraser and Kirk McCaskill as their probable starters for the Tiger series. “How can you put a timetable on an ankle sprain?” Petry said. “When I hurt it, my first thought was ‘I’m supposed to pitch Sunday.’ You can’t say, ‘Well, I expect to miss 10 days.’ When it’s ready, it’s ready. I’m not losing any sleep, but I hated to miss this start. And I think it will be just this one start. This is no guarantee, but I’d be very surprised if I didn’t make my next start.”

Add Lazorko-Petry: “It’s funny,” Lazorko was saying, “but Dan Petry has helped me get to the bigs twice. In ‘86, he was the reason the Tigers called me up. When Dan when on the DL, I got called up from Nashville. We seem to follow each other around.”

The Angels may have 12 pitchers once DeWayne Buice returns from the disabled list, but that event could take some time. “I’m taking it nice and slow,” Buice said of his sore left hamstring. “It still flares up from time to time, and I’m not going to take a chance at messing it up anymore. I don’t know, it might be (a problem with) the sciatic nerve, for all I know. It’s in the same spot, and the doctor says you treat it the same way. Right now, I’m just trying to exercise the leg without irritating it.” Buice claims to be a slow healer. “I pulled a groin in 1981, and it stayed with me for 40, 45 days,” Buice said. “It makes you wonder. I’m a little skinny guy with no muscles. How am I going to pull a muscle?” . . . Mark McLemore could beat Buice back to the Angels’ active list. McLemore is scheduled to test his surgically repaired right arm with throwing today.