A’s Pound Out Win Over Angels

The Angels and their new pitch-inside philosophy breezed into Oakland, home of the defending American League champions, Friday night and promptly watched their pitching staff get turned inside-out.

Starter Chuck Finley couldn’t last two innings, victimized by an infield error and an eventual five-run second inning. Reliever Dan Petry couldn’t complete two innings, either, victimized by another error and that old Angel killer, a home-run pitch to Dave Henderson.

Between the two, Finley and Petry surrendered eight runs--too much weight for a four-game team winning streak to bear--and the Angels lost to the Athletics, 10-6, before 26,903 at the Oakland Coliseum.

The streak, consisting of consecutive shutouts sandwiched between 9-2 and 7-2 victories, was staggered early, as the Angels fell behind, 5-0, in the second inning.

And despite a nine-hit attack that knocked Oakland starter Bob Welch (3-1) out of the game in the sixth inning, the Angels were never able to recover from their game-opening jitters.

Thirteen strikeouts--two apiece by Mark McLemore, Devon White, Claudell Washington, Lance Parrish and Chili Davis--also did plenty to keep any Angel comeback ideas at bay.

The evening’s highlight for the Angels?

“We got some guys in the bullpen some work,” Angel Manager Doug Rader deadpanned.

Before the final out was recorded, 3 hours 29 minutes after the first pitch, Rader had phoned the bullpen four times, paging Willie Fraser, Petry, Greg Minton, even Bryan Harvey.

But Finley (2-2) did the damage, with a non-helping hand from second baseman McLemore.

The decisive second inning began to unravel on the Angels when Oakland rookie Lance Blankenship hit a one-out home run off Finley, Blankenship’s second major league hit and his first major league home run.

After Mike Gallego grounded out to Finley, the Angels were an out away from ending the inning. And Finley appeared to have clinched the out by inducing Ron Hassey to hit a grounder to the right side of the infield.

It was a routine play, but McLemore’s curious defensive slump continues and he misplayed the ball for an error, his fourth in 13 games.

Three of those errors have led to nine unearned runs, including four Friday night.

Immediately following this one, Walt Weiss singled, and Tony Phillips walked, loading the bases. Billy Beane then worked the count full before doubling into the left-field corner, scoring both Hassey and Weiss.

A walk to Henderson loaded the bases again, and another hit, a single by Mark Steinbach, brought home two more runs.

Down, 5-0, Angel Manager Doug Rader put an end to Finley’s start and began the bullpen cavalcade. Fraser replaced Finley and retired Lansford, the inning’s 10th batter, on a fly to right.

Asked about the play that made it all possible, McLemore’s error, Rader backed away.

“I don’t want to dwell on that,” Rader said. “All that does is plant the seed in a guy’s head that the roof’s going to cave in every time he makes an error.

“Certainly, if you make an error, other people have the ability to pick you up.”

The Angels tried, scoring twice in the top of the fifth inning when an infield grounder by White exploded on Oakland second baseman Gallego for a bad-hop double that brought home Jack Howell and Anderson.

And after Henderson’s home run off Petry in the bottom of the inning, the Angels pulled within 6-4 with two more runs in the sixth. Chili Davis walked, Howell ended a 2-for-37 slump with a double, and both scored--Davis on a sacrifice fly by Anderson, Howell on a single by Brian Downing.

Petry, however, gave the runs right back in the bottom of the sixth, with another defensive assist.

Gallego opened with a single, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Lance Parrish’s overthrow. Hassey then lofted a sacrifice fly to left, and the A’s led, 7-4.

Weiss walked and quickly made it 8-4, stealing second and coming home on a single by Henderson, the last batter Petry faced.

Minton came on to close out the sixth by retiring Steinbach on a fly to left.

The Angels pulled within 8-6 with runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

White led off the seventh with a bloop single to left and stole second base, his second steal of the evening and seventh of the season. He moved to third on an infield grounder and scored on a wild pitch by A’s reliever Eric Plunk, just before Wally Joyner’s inning-ending strikeout.

Davis’ home run to right field, his third of the season, accounted for the Angels’ run in the eighth. But there was room for more, with Howell and Downing on base with one out.

However, both runners were stranded when Oakland’s second reliever, Rick Honeycutt, struck out McLemore and White.

Another rally died in its tracks, and an Angel winning streak expired with it.

Angel Notes

Wally Joyner is running out of hobbies. With a day off in the Bay Area Thursday, Joyner decided to go golfing but never got out of the pro shop. He reinjured the same ankle he sprained during a spring basketball game by tripping over a floor mat. “I hit the corner of the mat, where you clean your shoes, and twisted the ankle,” said Joyner, the Angels’ new Mr. Klutz. “I didn’t even get the clubs on the cart. I drove for 45 minutes, got out of the car for five and drove back for 45.” Joyner had the ankle X-rayed, which proved negative, and he was back in the starting lineup Friday night. Someone suggested that Joyner develop some less strenuous outside interests. “I’m going to try the triathlon next,” he quipped. “No, maybe I should try jacks. Or tiddlywinks.”

It has also been a rough trip on the Angel coaching staff. Wednesday in Chicago, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann hurt his back while packing his suitcase, and Friday, Manager Doug Rader had his left elbow lock up while hitting pregame fungoes. “I’ve got so much garbage in there,” Rader said with a note of disgust. “Bone chips, spurs, hubcaps.” After examining the elbow, trainer Ned Bergert advised the removal of the fungo bat from Rader’s hands. “I prescribed that he go back to the sedate career he had before,” Bergert said. . . . Dick Schofield’s stint on the disabled list could be a long one, Rader fears. “It sure doesn’t look like he’ll be back anytime soon,” Rader said. “Unfortunately, whenever you deal with soft tissue (Schofield has an injured chest muscle) it’s hard to diagnose. You don’t know if it’s stretched, strained or torn. Based on the length of time it’s taken (to heal) so far, it sounds like a tear. And that’s no different than a hamstring tear. A tear’s a tear, and it takes time to heal.”