Red Sox End Angel Winning Streak at 5 : Boston Finally Beats Witt Again, 5-2

The Angels 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox before 28,114 fans at Anaheim Stadium detracted only marginally from their impressive record for the first 40 games, 26-14, which matches the best start in the team’s history.

“It wasn’t all that distasteful,” Manager Doug Rader said. “You would like to win every single game, but that’s not possible. As long as the effort is there and the skills are there, that’s all you can ask.

“It’s just not always going to translate into a win.”

Yes, the Angels, who had a five-game winning streak snapped, these days are finding positives even in defeat.

The starting pitching, the most obvious factor in their early-season surge, was adequate again. Starter Mike Witt yielded 10 hits, but he pitched into the ninth inning, when the Angels trailed by just a run.

“I felt Mike deserved a better fate,” Rader said. “He pitched well. A couple of bad breaking balls were the difference.”

And the Angel hitters aren’t slumping, either. They also collected 10 hits, including a mammoth two-run homer by Devon White.

“We swung the bat very well,” White said. “Hey, we gave it our best shot.”

Apparently, when you’ve won 11 of 14, even a best-shot defeat is palatable.

Witt, who had won his previous six starts against Boston, wavered at times Thursday night and didn’t have his best stuff, but he kept the Angels in the game.

“I thought I pitched well with the stuff I had,” Witt said. “I had decent stuff, but it certainly wasn’t great stuff.”

Witt had allowed just four runs in his last three starts, which included two no-decisions (during which he pitched 17 innings) and a complete-game victory.

Witt, who gave up only 14 home runs all last season, the fewest by an Angel starter since Nolan Ryan yielded only 12 in 1977, is getting burned by the long ball this season. He had already given up seven home runs going into Thursday night’s game.

And the Red Sox upped Witt’s ante in a hurry.

Second baseman Marty Barrett hit his first homer of the season in the first inning, hooking a fly ball just inside the left-field foul pole.

Boston went ahead, 2-0, in the fourth when Mike Greenwell homered. And this one was no fly-ball-down-the-line job. It was a rocket into the second deck in right field.

The Red Sox’s third run came via the almost-homer when Dwight Evans led off the fifth with a double off the top of the wall in left. Two outs later, Ed Romero singled to right, and Boston led, 3-0.

Red Sox right-hander John Dopson (5-2), who was acquired from the Expos during the off-season, successfully scattered five hits through the first five innings, but the Angels got to him in the sixth. And they went deep to do it.

Johnny Ray lined a single to center, and White then one-upped Greenwell with a towering, 393-foot drive to right field that landed about five rows beyond Greenwell’s fourth-inning shot.

The Red Sox put the game away in the ninth. Nick Esasky led off with a pinch single, and Evans’ attempted sacrifice bunt found a hole, ending up a single. Lance Parrish’s wild pickoff throw allowed the runners to advance to second and third, and then pinch-hitter Randy Kutcher grounded a single to right to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead.

Rader brought in reliever Greg Minton, who got Rich Gedman to ground out to third base, and Esasky was out in a rundown between home and third. Minton walked Romero intentionally to load the bases, and Kutcher scored as Jody Reed barely avoided an inning-ending double play.

Things have been rolling along just fine for the Angels of late, but in the seventh Thursday night, they momentarily lost the Midas touch.

Parrish’s one-out single chased Dopson, and Rader, not one to use pinch-hitters very often, had Dante Bichette hit for Jack Howell against left-handed reliever Rob Murphy. Bichette struck out, but Kent Anderson drew a walk.

The Angels were a hit away from tying the game, but Claudell Washington saw third baseman Romero playing deep and laid down a bunt. The ball died quickly, however, and Gedman, the catcher, pounced on it and threw to first base in time to nip Washington.

Angel Notes

Executive Vice President Mike Schreter said the Angels rejected a proposal to relocate their spring training headquarters in Gilbert, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, but are considering another offer for a development in nearby Mesa. Schreter said the Angels decided against an 80-acre parcel for a new stadium because it did not have the feel of a resort area. “To put a stadium plunk down in the middle of a commercial development doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” he said. Schreter said he would recommend that owner Gene Autry accept another deal for a site near Gene Autry Park in Mesa, where the Angels currently train, if some remaining issues can be resolved.

Doug Rader gave rookie Jim Abbott a pep talk before Wednesday night’s game, and although he refuses to take any credit for helping Abbott pitch a four-hit shutout, the Angel manager’s advice may have been a factor. “He told me to throw my pitches as hard as I can and not try to be too fine,” said Abbott, who struck out five and was ahead in the count much of the evening. Catcher Lance Parrish said: “He just got into a good groove. His fastball was the story. He had good velocity and he was throwing it where he wanted to.” . . . Rader said he thought Abbott had been swayed by some members of the media who had written that the rookie left-hander needs a third pitch to be successful in the majors. “He fell into the trap and became a little preoccupied with his curveball,” Rader said. “He had forgotten how to throw the two pitches (fastball, slider) that got him here.” Rader would rather see Abbott develop into a fastball-slider-changeup pitcher than a fastball-slider-curve pitcher. “Few guys can maintain both a true slider and a curve in their repertoire,” he said. “If you continue to try and throw both, you can end up with neither.”

Dick Schofield, who has missed five consecutive games with a slight groin injury, says he feels better and hopes to return soon. “It feels real good when I loosen up,” said Schofield, who has six hits in his last 13 at-bats, “but it tightens back up when I sit down. I don’t think it’s anything serious, though.” . . . Claudell Washington said his daughter, Camille, who sustained a serious neck injury in a freak household accident, is feeling much better. “She’s doing fine,” he said. “She’s finally up and around again.”

QUICK STARTS Best Angel Starts (After 40 Games)

Year Record Final Finish 1989 26-14 -- -- 1982 26-14 93-69 1st 1970 26-14 86-76 3rd 1979 25-15 88-74 1st 1978 24-16 87-75 2nd