Witt’s Back, but Backing Betrays Him : Four Angel Errors, Four Unearned Runs Ruin Pitcher’s Return

Mike Witt, the man who came up on the short end of a battle with his hosiery a week ago, was back on the mound Tuesday night.

The back spasms he suffered putting on his socks July 18 had subsided enough to allow his return to the Angels’ rotation, but by the time the fourth inning was complete, Witt probably wished he’d stayed in bed.

Bad backing was what he suffered from most on a night when the Angels committed four errors behind him, accounting for four unearned Oakland runs in the Athletics’ 6-2 victory before 35,838 at Anaheim Stadium.

“Mike was fantastic,” catcher Darrell Miller said. “He was really in command. He got the first nine guys in a row and I was starting to settle in back there, expecting a gay time.”

The gaiety ended abruptly in the fourth when nine A’s came to the plate and five scored. Oakland had three singles and a double, but three errors and a wild pitch turned a rally into a rout.

“One bad inning, that was the whole game,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said. “Mike had good command and good control, especially considering the layoff. In the first three innings, he was really fluid, too.”

All this came as a bit of a surprise considering that before Monday’s game, Rojas said it was very doubtful whether Witt would be ready. The Angels even brought minor leaguer Jack Lazorko down from Edmonton to be on hand in case Witt had to be placed on the disabled list.

He appeared most able Tuesday, though. He went seven innings, threw 100 pitches and allowed six hits. He struck out six and walked two.

But Witt and the weird have been close companions through the summer of ’88. The Angels are 8-13 in games he has started this season, and that’s not exactly the kind of statistic General Manager Mike Port had in mind when he signed the 6-foot 7-inch right-hander to a $2.8-million, two-year contract during the off-season.

After staggering to a 2-6 record in the first two months of the season, Witt rebounded to go 4-1 with a 2.67 earned-run average in June.

Witt’s return to form had been considered complete--he was 5-2 in his previous eight starts before Tuesday night--until that fateful morning when he bent over to pull up his socks . . . and couldn’t unbend.

There was considerable speculation about the extent of his injury, until Tuesday night, anyway.

Witt didn’t stick around to describe how good--or bad--his back felt, but pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said he isn’t worried about Witt waking up with a stiff back today.

“I don’t foresee any problems,” he said. “I don’t look on the dark side, anyway, but it seems to me that if something was going to happen, it would have happened out there tonight.”

Was he surprised at Witt’s performance after 11 days off?

“If Mike Witt says he’s able to pitch, then I expect him to pitch like that,” Lachemann said.

In recent years, that has always been the case. But this season, well, one never knows what to expect.