Ninth-Inning Home Run Gives Angels 5-3 Win : Devon White’s 412-foot Blast Off Bobby Witt Sends Rangers Down to Defeat

Devon White’s two-run home run with one out in the ninth inning Friday night gave the Angels a 5-3 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Pinch-hitter George Hendrick led off the inning with a single, and pinch-runner Domingo Ramos was sacrificed to second. White followed with his 11th homer, a 412-foot shot to right field off Bobby Witt (6-9).

Reliever Greg Minton (4-4) worked two innings for the victory, and Bryan Harvey pitched two-thirds of an inning for his 17th save.

It was Texas’ ninth loss in its last 10 games.

Dan Petry pitched six-hit ball for six innings before yielding to Minton.

Texas tied the score, 3-3, in the seventh when Jerry Browne drove in Steve Buechele with a double. Buechele was hit by a Minton pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball.

The Angels used four singles to score two runs off Witt in the first. Wally Joyner drove in one run with a sacrifice fly and Johnny Ray added an RBI single.

Texas got back a run in the second on Cecil Espy’s run-scoring single.

The Angels made it 3-1 in the fifth on Mark McLemore’s sacrifice fly and the Rangers added a run in the sixth on Browne’s RBI triple.

The Angels are 32-18 when White is in the leadoff spot, a role he doesn’t enjoy.

“I don’t want to come to spring training and see that they have me leading off, but that’s for the manager and organization to say,” White said.

White’s ninth-inning homer came on a pitch he was looking for all night.

“That’s why I kept swinging at the high stuff. The count was in my favor (3-and-1), so why not swing hard?” White said.

“He wants to be a power hitter, but if he bats first, with his speed he can score 100 runs, steal 80 bases and has a chance to drive in 70-80 runs,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said of White.

“Since he has come back, a lot of things have happened with him leading off. He hit that ball as far as he can hit one.”

Harvey’s 17th save matched the second highest rookie total in Angel history (Bob Lee, 1964; DeWayne Buice, 1987). The record is 22, by Ken Tatum in 1969.

Witt completed his 10th game in 12 starts since returning from Oklahoma City. He yielded 13 hits.