McCaskill Revival Passes True Test, 2-0 : Angel Pitcher Turns In a Four-Hitter to Beat Morris and Tigers

Until Thursday, no one really knew what to make of Kirk McCaskill’s recent revival, the comeback within the Angels’ comeback, because everyone knows how easy it is to pitch on the long end of 16-7, 10-5 and 10-6 scores.

Hang a curveball, run into a wild spell . . . who’s going to notice if you can sweep it under the rug of 36 runs in your last three starts?

He finally got a true test against Jack Morris and the Detroit Tigers at Anaheim Stadium Thursday night. Both pitchers worked complete games, both teams combined for two runs.

Final score: Angels 2, Tigers 0.

Perhaps, it is time to reassess this new, post-op McCaskill.

By limiting Detroit, the current leader in the American League East, to four singles in nine innings, McCaskill extended a pair of winning streaks--his own to five straight and the Angels’ to six straight. That equals the Angels’ longest victory streak of 1988.

It also brought the Angels within four games of .500 (42-46) for the first time since May 3 and improved their record since June 15 to 18-6.

And who was the winning pitcher on June 16? McCaskill, by virtue of a 3-0 shutout of the Texas Rangers.

Coincidence? Not entirely. McCaskill’s turnaround has mirrored that of his team, the shutout of Texas beginning a stretch that took his record from 2-5 to its present 7-5 and lowered his earned-run average from 4.03 to 3.38.

Of course, three of those victories were Angel blowouts, which heightened the significance of this latest decision.

“In those other games, McCaskill had room to work on some things, to try some things,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said. “Games like tonight, you’ve got to have everything working for you. Two runs is not much to work with.”

McCaskill received those runs courtesy of Bob Boone and Devon White. In the third inning, Boone, catching the 1,999th game of his major league career, led off with a double and scored on a broken-bat single by White. In the fifth inning, Jack Howell singled, Boone bunted him to second and White drove him home with another RBI single.

McCaskill took those two runs and beat Morris, whose record dropped to 7-10. Morris allowed 8 hits--7 of them singles--and did not walk a batter, his best outing in several weeks. But that wasn’t enough to counter McCaskill, who claimed to have his best curveball in years.

“I think this was the same curve I had in ‘86,” said McCaskill, referring to a season that he finished 17-10 with a 3.36 ERA. “It had the same kind of rotation. And I may have been even m1869767968I’d throw a good curve and then I’d throw one that would almost go to the screen.”

The curveball, of course, had been McCaskill’s missing link during last year’s aborted return from arthroscopic elbow surgery and his early outings this season. After opening 1988 without confidence in his best pitch, McCaskill saw his ERA reach 5.40 by early May, and he didn’t throw a complete game until mid-June.

Now, he has two shutouts within a month--and is the only Angel starting pitcher with a winning record.

“The last five or six outings, I’ve been more relaxed,” McCaskill said. “The curveball has been part of that. Also, getting 36 runs in 3 games. That allowed me to go out and work on some things without any pressure.”

En route to his fifth career shutout, McCaskill allowed Detroit’s leadoff hitter to get on base in only two innings. Matt Nokes walked to open the third. However, he was caught stealing on an inning-ending double play. And pinch-hitter Ray Knight began the eighth with a single but was forced out at second by Gary Pettis.

McCaskill retired the side in order four times, including the ninth inning to end the game with fly-ball outs by Chet Lemon, Darrell Evans and Luis Salazar.

When Angel right fielder Chili Davis squeezed the final one by Salazar, the Angels were as close as they had been to .500 in nearly three months, back when they were 11-15.

“We’re quietly creeping up there,” McCaskill said. “No one’s paying much attention to us, but I don’t think anyone here is complaining about that.

“It was very, very frustrating going through what we did early this year. When we got good pitching, we didn’t hit. When we hit, we didn’t get good pitching.

“But this stretch, we’ve kind of started to put things together. Of course, it’s easy to pitch in 10-run games and 16-run games.”

Thursday, the Angel offense managed to score but two runs, yet McCaskill still found the pitching easy. Consider it a sign of the times. Consider it payback.

The Angels bought McCaskill enough time to get his act together, to find himself amid the camouflage of three straight Angel routs. Now, the offensive onslaught has stopped . . . but the winning hasn’t, because of McCaskill.

Angel Notes

The Angel pitching rotation, functioning at only 60% capacity, is hoping to regain the services of Chuck Finley Monday. Finley, who hasn’t pitched since June 29 because of a hyper-extended thumb, threw on the sidelines Wednesday and played long toss Thursday. “He looks pretty good,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “He should be ready to go Monday.” That translates into at least one more start for Terry Clark (1-0), who is scheduled to pitch Sunday. Willie Fraser (6-8) will start Saturday’s game.

The outlook is not as optimistic for Dan Petry, whose return to the rotation could be delayed until after this 13-game, 14-day homestand. Lachemann would says there’s only “a chance” Petry would be reactivated during the next two weeks. “The injury is in a tough place,” Lachemann said of Petry’s ankle sprain. “It’s a key area, as far as pushing off the mound is concerned. If he comes back too fast and doesn’t heal completely, you’re asking for arm problems.” Petry threw off the mound Thursday for the first time since last week’s pain-killing injection, testing the ankle for 12 minutes. Petry did not throw from a full windup and appeared to be at “about 80%,” according to Lachemann.

Old Angel outfielders never die, they just get recycled. Following the lead of Thad Bosley, who left Anaheim in 1977 only to return 11 years later, Mike Brown has rejoined the organization after a three-year hiatus. Thursday, the Angels purchased Brown’s contract from Toledo, Detroit’s triple-A affiliate, and assigned him to Edmonton. Brown, 28, spent three seasons with the Angels (1983-85), batting .264 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs in a total of 153 games. In August 1985, he was traded to Pittsburgh in the deal that brought John Candelaria and George Hendrick to the Angels. This year with Toledo, Brown was hitting .270 with 3 home runs and 21 RBIs in 79 games. To make room on Edmonton’s roster, the club released outfielder Kevin King, who was batting .263 with 9 home runs and 35 RBIs.

Detroit shortstop Alan Trammell could leave the disabled list as early as today. Trammell tested his elbow by taking two sessions of batting practice and reported all went well. If Trammell gets the same results today, the Tigers’ cleanup hitter should be ready to return to the lineup.