Blyleven Stops Tigers; Angels Win Again, 5-1 : Team Makes It Six Straight With Pitching, Big Inning

The last time Bert Blyleven won a game in Tiger Stadium, Doug Rader was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Twelve years later, Blyleven won again in Tiger Stadium. This time, Rader is his manager.

Tuesday night, the Detroit Tigers managed only one run against the veteran right-hander as the Angels won their sixth consecutive game, beating Detroit, 5-1, before 12,290 at Tiger Stadium.

“It’s really fun to catch a guy when you see the hitters’ knees buckle every time he throws that curve up there,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “He can throw it at a couple of different speeds, too, which makes it that much tougher.”

Blyleven said he was unaware that he hadn’t won in Tiger Stadium since May, 3, 1977. And he figures that was good.

“I’m glad no one told me that before the game,” he said. “Then I would have gone out there and got beat and had a good excuse.”

The Angels don’t need many excuses these days . . . especially the pitchers, who continue to be among the game’s most effective. Their 2.60 team earned-run average is tied with the Dodgers for the best in baseball.

Blyleven (4-1) wasn’t overpowering--he gave up a run in the first inning and eight hits in seven innings--but the result was another strong outing. He struck out only one, but did not allow a walk.

“Bert didn’t miss too many bats tonight,” Rader said, “but he’s always around the plate, and the defense really played well again.”

The offense, which has sputtered and choked but somehow managed to produce enough runs to win 11 of 12 games, was productive again. The Angels, who scored nine runs in the fourth inning Monday night, had four runs in the fifth Tuesday.

“We’d like to be a little more consistent,” Parrish said, “but we’ve been getting it done one way or another.”

The Angels sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth and scored four runs on five hits, including Dante Bichette’s 400-foot line-drive double that one-hopped over the wall next to the center-field flagpole.

“That was for all the oh-fers rolled into one,” said Bichette, who is hitting .230. “That’s about as hard as I can hit a ball. I just wish I got it up a little.”

If he had, somebody on Michigan Avenue would have had an unexpected souvenir--or perhaps a broken windshield.

Dick Schofield and Brian Downing started the fifth inning with back-to-back singles. Wally Joyner, trying to sacrifice, beat out a bunt to load the bases. Johnny Ray forced Joyner to push across the first run of the inning, and Devon White’s double down the left-field line gave the Angels a 2-0 lead.

After Chili Davis was walked intentionally, Parrish drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly and Bichette followed with his run-scoring double that certainly would have scored Davis and been a triple for the speedy rookie if the ball hadn’t jumped the fence.

The long inning didn’t seem to bother Blyleven, who faced only 10 batters over the next three innings before giving way to Greg Minton.

“I think the next inning after you score like that is the most important,” Blyleven said. “When I got them 1-2-3, I felt pretty good.”

The Angels made him feel a little better when added another run in the sixth. Schofield led off with a single to center, stole second and continued to third when catcher Matt Nokes’ throw was about 15 feet wide of second base. Schofield scored on Joyner’s sacrifice fly.

Minton allowed only one hit in the final two innings as the Angels continued their merciless march through the bottom half of the American League East.

As trips go, this one has been almost a vacation. Only a ninth-inning run by the Orioles a week ago blemished this otherwise perfect swing. The Angels are 6-1 with one game remaining tonight before returning home to Anaheim. The Tigers, 0-4 against the Angels, are off to their worst start since 1953, when they also won only nine of their first 30 games.

The Angels (21-11) have streaked to the second-best start in club history, but no one has put in an order for red-white-and-blue bunting in preparation for World Series decorations at Anaheim Stadium.

“You don’t see anyone out there doing handsprings, do you?” Rader asked. “We’re trying to maintain. Everyone is busting just as hard as ever.

“There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what you’ve accomplished, but you don’t want to get too wrapped up in it. I just want to make sure everyone continues to do the work they’re supposed to and no one gets giddy, gay or complacent.”

Said Blyleven: “We’re 10 games over .500. Now, we need to shoot for 20 over. You’ve got to have goals.”

And when you’re playing like the Angels, goals that once seemed unrealistic suddenly appear attainable.

Angel Notes

Wally Joyner was in the No. 2 spot in the order for the fifth consecutive time Tuesday night. “I wanted to get him out of the RBI situations and into a spot where he could just worry about moving runners along,” Manager Doug Rader said. “Sometimes a move like that can help a guy get out of the doldrums.” Joyner, who was in a nine-for-43 slump before being moved from the middle of the order, is six for 22 since. . . . Outfielder Tony Armas, who hasn’t played in a month because of a strained left hamstring, is “getting a little closer,” according to Rader, but the Angel manager is still being cautious. “It’s a very delicate situation because if he comes back too soon and goes down again it could be for the rest of the year.”

Rader was complaining about the duration--and locations--of the Angels’ current trip Tuesday when someone said that it could have been a lot worse. Eleven-day trips can seem a lot longer when you don’t win almost every game. . . Left fielder Chili Davis had his second nice running catch in as many nights, saving a run by stabbing a line drive off the bat of Dave Bergman in the seventh.