Finley Tops Milwaukee for 6th Win : White Hits Home Run as Southpaw Pitches a 3-1 Complete Game

Jim Abbott and Kirk McCaskill are the glitter twins of the Angel pitching rotation, the current headline-grabbers. Bert Blyleven and Mike Witt are the old reliables, the proven veterans who are proving it once again in this improbable spring.

So where does that leave Chuck Finley, the fifth member of the resurgent five-man crew?

Would you believe bucking for the American League lead in wins?

With Friday night’s 3-1 complete-game victory over the Milwaukee Brewers before 39,978 fans at Anaheim Stadium, Finley improved his 1989 record to 6-2. That tied him with Baltimore’s Jeff Ballard and Oakland’s Bob Welch in American League wins, one behind seven-game winner Dave Stewart of Oakland.

This is all the more impressive when one considers Finley’s recent kinship with the loss column.

Last season, his first as a starting pitcher, Finley finished 9-15, logging the most defeats by a left-handed Angel pitcher since Frank Tanana went 14-19 in 1974.

The season before, the Angels were 4-31 during games in which Finley pitched. Finley went 2-7.

Suddenly, the pitcher who didn’t know how to win has picked up the knack.

Or maybe it’s the Angels who have learned to win for Finley.

Victimized repeatedly last season by a lack of support--both offensively and defensively--Finley received timely hitting, timely fielding and even a break or two en route to his third complete game in nine starts.

Devon White provided much of the necessary assistance with his bat and his glove. In the sixth inning, he homered to give Finley a 1-0 lead. In the eighth, he singled and scored the Angels’ third run. And in the ninth, he raced back to the center-field wall to take an extra-base hit away from Milwaukee’s Glenn Braggs.

More than that, a wild pitch gave Finley the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. With the game tied at 1-1, the bases loaded and two outs, Milwaukee reliever Bill Krueger fired a pitch in the dirt to Johnny Ray that skipped by catcher Charlie O’Brien and enabled Lance Parrish to score from third base.

That was the opening Finley needed. He came back to retire the last six Brewers and move the Angels back into a first-place tie in the AL West with Oakland.

Finley wound up with a seven-hitter, walking one and striking out seven. His earned-run average stands at 2.10--about half the 4.17 mark he compiled last season.

“You can’t correlate Chuck Finley this year with Chuck Finley last year,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “Just as you can’t correlate Kirk McCaskill with Kirk McCaskill of last year.”

The difference, Rader suggested, rests in Finley’s mind-set. Where before, Finley strove to just survive five or six innings, he now enters every start thinking complete game, according to Rader.

“I think Chuck had been on the edge (of becoming a winning pitcher) for a long time,” Rader said. “He goes out there with nine innings on his mind, as opposed to just surviving.

“When you get past thinking survival, you get into a frame of mind of winning. That’s where Chuck’s at right now.”

Finley spent the first six innings pitching out of trouble, stranding two runners on third base, but his only real mistake came in the sixth, when he lost track of the number of outs.

With two outs and Robin Yount on third base, Finley struck out Rob Deer. Angel catcher Parrish clutched the third strike, arose from his crouch and flipped the ball toward the mound as he headed for the dugout.

Finley, however, mistook Deer’s strikeout for only the second of the inning and broke out in a momentary panic. Watching the bouncing ball, Finley hustled toward home plate, pounced on the ball . . . and then looked up to see players from both teams leaving the field.

This prompted more than a few smiles in the Angel dugout, where Finley was promptly reminded of the principles of basic mathematics.

“I had a brain cramp,” Finley said with a laugh. “A lack of oxygen. (The number of outs) slipped my mind. I made fool of myself. Lance threw the ball back--and I freaked.”

Quipped Rader: “He was working on recovering fumbles or something. I really don’t know.”

In the bottom of the sixth, the Angels finally worked on getting Finley a lead.

White’s second home run in as many evenings, this coming against Milwaukee starter Bryan Clutterbuck (1-1), gave the Angels a 1-0 advantage. The home run, delivered on an 0-and-1 pitch, was the fifth of the season for White, who leads the Angels in RBIs with 25.

Finley, however, gave the run back in the top of the seventh.

Braggs and Jim Gantner opened the inning with successive singles, putting runners on first and third. After Dave Engle struck out, O’Brien doubled into the left-field corner to score Braggs and create a 1-1 tie.

Finley averted further damage when Gantner broke from third on an infield chopper by Mike Felder. Angel shortstop Kent Anderson short-hopped the ball and, on the run, fired home. Parrish ran Gantner back to third, where the Brewer was greeted by O’Brien, already standing on the base.

Two runners on one base is one more than is allowed, and Gantner was out.

The threat ended when Paul Molitor grounded out to third base.

“He pitched out of a tough jam,” Rader exclaimed. “I’m proud of him.”

Two innings, and two Angel runs, later, Finley was rubbing elbows with the best pitchers in the league. In Anaheim, the wonders have yet to cease.