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Angels Keep Everything Together and Win in 10th

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Times Staff Writer

OK, what’s going on with these Angels?

They won their seventh game in eight outings Thursday night, beating the Blue Jays, 3-2, in 10 innings before 21,188 fans at Exhibition Stadium, and once again the Angel clubhouse sounded like one of those power-of-positive-thinking seminars.

Starter Kirk McCaskill: “It’s a really nice feeling, this sense that we’re jelling together as a team.”

Manager Doug Rader: “I think the character of your people dictates your success.”

But when you get right down to it, Rader’s tongue-in-cheek response when asked to sum up the game is probably a better key to the mystery of the Angels’ 17-11 start.

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“The pitchers did good, the hitters did enough and everyone caught the ball,” he said.

The Pitchers Did Good:

--McCaskill, who was three outs away from a no-hitter the last time he faced Toronto, didn’t have overpowering stuff this time. But he battled for 7 1/3 innings and gave up only two runs on seven hits.

--Bryan Harvey, who hadn’t pitched in a week and was experiencing stiffness in his back, kept his earned-run average at 0.00 with 1 1/3 innings of relief. He walked two but struck out three and earned his first victory of the season.

--Greg Minton, who walked three and threw a wild pitch during the Angels’ only loss in the last 10 days, got all three Blue Jays he faced in the 10th inning to ground out to shortstop. He earned his third save.

The Hitters Did Enough:

--Brian Downing’s two-out single to left field scored Chili Davis in the seventh after Davis had doubled and Dante Bichette had singled.

--Bichette’s full-out sprint to first after grounding to third with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth averted an inning-ending double play and allowed Devon White, who had a triple, double and single, to score the tying run.

--Lance Parrish hit a leadoff double in the 10th, making a crash-landing slide into second base barely ahead of Rob Ducey’s strong throw. Then he slid headfirst into third on Davis’ sacrifice bunt and scored the winning run on Bichette’s warning-track sacrifice fly.

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Everyone Caught the Ball:

--The Angels, who have not made an error during the seven-of-eight streak, turned in another perfect defensive effort.

As a result of all this, the Angels are six games above .500 for the first time since 1986, when they won the American League West title.

“I can’t explain it, except to say that I always feel like it’s going to work out,” Rader said. “I’m never pessimistic. A lot of it revolves around having the right people in the right situations.”

Then there is the great--and sometimes simply gutsy--pitching the Angels have been getting.

McCaskill, whose earned-run average rose to only 1.03, saw his chance for a no-hitter evaporate this time with Toronto’s first batter, Lloyd Moseby, who singled to center. Kelly Gruber followed with another single to center, and McCaskill’s chance for another shutout was gone when No. 3 hitter Tony Fernandez forced Gruber and Moseby scored.

McCaskill’s club record of 88 consecutive innings without giving up a home run was next to go. Rookie designated hitter Junior Felix led off the third with a drive over the wall in right-center field. The last home run McCaskill had given up was last June 27, to Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett.

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Felix, who was called up from the minors Tuesday, hit the first pitch in his first major league at-bat, becoming the 12th player in history to make a souvenir with his first swing in the big leagues.

“When you talk about the three ingredients to having a good game--stuff, selection and command--I guess I just had selection,” McCaskill said. “I made some pitches when I had to.

“But the goal of a starter is to go out there and try to give your team a chance to win, and I guess I did that.”

Toronto starter Jimmy Key certainly held up his end of the bargain in that regard. He lasted 7 1/3 innings and gave up 10 hits, but reliever Duane Ward, who got the loss and fell to 1-5, couldn’t keep the Angels from pulling out another one.

Ward came on with the bases loaded after White, Parrish and Davis had singled. He made a good pitch to Bichette, and the rookie right fielder hit a bouncer to third, but Bichette’s last-step lunge barely beat the relay from second baseman Nelson Liriano. The score now was 2-2.

“That’s talent and a little bit more,” Rader said of Bichette’s effort. “And that’s why we feel so good about this guy’s future.”

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Jack Howell opened the ninth with a double to left but was stranded when Ward struck out Downing, got Kent Anderson to pop up and White to ground out to first after intentionally walking Johnny Ray.

Harvey, meanwhile, was ignoring the cold weather, a bit of wildness and his stiff back. He came in after McCaskill had walked Fernandez with one out in the eighth. Fernandez was caught stealing, and Harvey walked both George Bell and Fred McGriff before striking out Ernie Whitt to end the inning.

“Once I got out there, my back didn’t bother me,” Harvey said. “The cool air stiffened it up afterward, but it might have helped me a little because I have a tendency to (overthrow) when I haven’t worked in a while.”

Minton couldn’t complain about a layoff but he certainly didn’t want to dwell on his last outing.

“This was a vintage Greg Minton performance,” Parrish said. “When he’s throwing like that, if they put it in play, then they’ll probably hit it on the ground and they’ll probably hit it at someone.”

This time, anyway, they did.

Then Parrish, who is not your world-class baserunner, doubled to open the 10th. Rader had decided to give Wally Joyner a day off and started Bill Schroeder at first base. Then he had Joyner hit for Schroeder and was without a backup catcher, so Parrish was left to fend for himself on the basepaths.

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He almost wasn’t on base at all. If Ducey had not slipped on the warning track while cutting off Parrish’s drive down the line, his throw to second probably would have gotten Parrish. As it was, Parrish was barely safe.

“I figured if I can’t get a double on that ball, I’ll never get one,” Parrish said. “But it was close. Then I made like Rickey Henderson going into third.”

Bichette’s long fly allowed Parrish the luxury of jogging home with the go-ahead run.

Angel Notes

Manager Doug Rader had said Wednesday that shortstop Dick Schofield, out with a strained chest muscle, would come off the disabled list Thursday, but he changed his mind when he saw the weather report for Toronto. “We were prepared to take him off (Thursday), but at the 11th hour, we decided it didn’t make sense,” Rader said. “We’ve come this far, and it’s supposed to be cold and wet, so we decided to wait for the day game Saturday.” . . . Tony Armas, who has a strained left hamstring, is about a week away, according to trainer Rick Smith. “We could have used Tony’s bat against all these lefties,” Rader said. The Blue Jays are sending three left-handers--Jimmy Key (Thursday), John Cerutti (tonight) and Al Leiter (Saturday)--against the Angels.

Claudell Washington’s daughter, Camille, who was injured Tuesday when a lamp fell on the back of her neck while she was making her bed, has shown slight improvement but remains in John Muir Hospital in Orinda, Calif. Washington was hitting .400 in his last five games before leaving for home Tuesday. “From a selfish standpoint, you hate to see him go,” Rader said. “It’s the first time all year he’s been swinging the bat really well and really generating some bat speed.”

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