Angels Hold One-Inning Lumber Party : Hitters Wake Up for 9-2 Victory Over Tigers

The supposedly potent Angel offense has been dormant for much of the season. But Monday night, the hitters began to stir.

Scoring nine runs in the fourth inning, the Angels buried the nearly comatose Detroit Tigers, 9-2, before 12,795 die-hard fans at Tiger Stadium and gained their 10th victory in 11 games.

The question now is whether the Angel hitters can completely shake their slump.

“All we’re hoping for is our offense to become as productive as we think it can be,” Manager Doug Rader said. “So far, it hasn’t been, but if it even approaches our expectations, we’ll be fine.”

Thanks to outstanding pitching, the Angels have excelled. Just ask Chuck Finley, who had his second complete game of the season, improved his record to 4-2 and lowered his earned-run average to 2.60. The Angels’ league-leading team ERA is 2.65.

“We just keep rolling it over and over,” Finley said of the Angel starters. “Everyone wants to have a better outing then the last guy. Nobody wants to take the rap as the weak link.

“This spring, everybody talked about how we’d produce (offensively) and all the pitchers had to do is keep us close. It hasn’t been that way so far, but we’ve got people who can put the numbers up. I still wouldn’t want to pitch against our lineup.”

Tiger starter Doyle Alexander, who was 11-5 against the Angels before Monday night, never seemed to mind that much. But this Angel team has been finding a way to win for the last month.

Designated hitter Brian Downing, one of the few consistencies in the on-again-mostly-off-again offense, is a veteran of 16 major league seasons. He’s acutely aware that the time will arrive this year when the hitters will have to carry the load if the Angels are to continue winning.

“We’ve been getting the pitching and just enough hitting,” said Downing, whose bases-loaded triple Monday was a crowning blow in the fourth. “Realistically, we can’t expect this kind of pitching for 162 games, but if you can get consistent starters every day, it’s so uplifting.

“We’re riding the wave, but there will tough times when we will have to pick (the pitchers) up.”

Finley certainly got a lift in the fourth inning when the Angels scored nine runs without the benefit of a home run. Downing and Wally Joyner belted back-to-back 425-foot triples that would have been homers in most parks, however.

Joyner led off the inning with a double to left-center. One out later, Devon White and Chili Davis hit singles, Lance Parrish walked and the Angels had a 1-0 lead and the bases loaded.

Dante Bichette then hit a bouncer down the third-base line and third baseman Al Pedrique made a nice back-hand stab of the ball, but his throw to the plate hit White in the foot and both White and Davis scored. Jack Howell was walked intentionally to load the bases again and then Alexander (3-3) walked Dick Schofield--after getting ahead in the count, 0-and-2--and the Angels gained a 4-0 lead.

Downing gave the Angels a big lead with a triple that one-hopped off the 440 sign in dead center. Ramon Pena replaced Alexander. But Joyner, who is hitting only .224 despite having a hit in eight of his last 11 games, made the most of his second at-bat in the inning. He hit a shot almost identical to Downing’s. Johnny Ray hit a single to center to score Joyner and the Angels had their biggest inning since they scored nine in the second against the Yankees on Aug. 27, 1988.

It was a big night for Joyner, not only because he was two for four with a walk, a line-out to right and a 410-foot fly out to center, but because he finally felt like a contributor to the Angels’ streak.

“I did pretty good tonight,” Joyner said. “The frustrating part has been to go out and not think you’re helping the club. I mean I enjoy winning, but it’s just a matter of not feeling like you’ve helped in the wins.”

Joyner said he has stopped trying to pull every pitch, an early-season phase he goes through every year.

“All my career, when Wally Joyner was hitting good, I was hitting the ball over the shortstop’s head and going to left,” Joyner said. “I finally feel like I have an idea at the plate again. Of course the key is to see what happens tomorrow.”

That’s pretty much the tact Rader is taking, not wanting to label a one-inning outburst as the end of his club’s offensive woes.

“Anything you say after a game like this sounds greedy,” he said, “but I’d like to see us have this kind of run-scoring capacity in more than one inning. We need to keep the pressure on.

“We’re not there yet, but hopefully, we’ll be there on a more consistent basis.”

Joyner says he’s not superstitious, but he does plan to “retrace his steps” of Monday.

“It’s no big deal, but I will be getting up at exactly 12:13,” he said.

And it still remains to be seen whether this is some grand awakening or if the Angel offense will hit the snooze alarm.

Angel Notes

Manager Doug Rader decided to maintain his normal pitching rotation rather than skip fifth-starter Jim Abbott’s next outing, which means the Angel starters will be working on six days’ rest rather than the normal four. Abbott will start Friday night against the Yankees at Anaheim Stadium. “With the innings the starters have pitched and as far into the games as they’ve gone, a little extra rest shouldn’t hurt anyone,” Rader said. Take away each starters’ shortest outing and all five have lasted six innings or more in every other start. . . . Injury Updates: Second baseman Johnny Ray said Monday his sore left wrist was “the same.” And center fielder Devon White said his sore throat was “about the same, day-by-day.” . . . Claudell Washington, whose daughter is in the hospital after injuring her neck in a household accident, has not rejoined the team. Club officials said he would return as soon as his daughter is released from the hospital.

If things weren’t going badly enough for the Tigers, who have the worst winning percentage in baseball, they got worse Monday night. Center fielder Ken Williams bruised his ribs on the first play of the game when he slammed into the fence to make a running catch of a drive off the bat of Brian Downing and had to leave the game. Then in the fifth inning, first baseman Torey Lovullo crashed into the railing near first base while chasing a pop foul. Lovullo bruised both knees and had to be helped from the field. Both are on a day-to-day basis.