Royals Win 7th Straight at Anaheim : Angels’ Homecoming Ruined by Gubicza, 4-0; Abbott to Miss Turn

The Angels, who couldn’t have had more fun touring the East this spring if they had been on vacation, returned to their home park Friday night to play their first game against a Western Division opponent in almost six weeks.

As homecomings go, this one was a bit of a flop.

Because of the injury-free right arm of Kansas City’s Mark Gubicza and news of the suddenly sore left shoulder of Angel rookie Jim Abbott, the Angels were in no mood to do much partying.

Gubicza (5-4) struck out eight and went the distance as Kansas City won its seventh consecutive game at Anaheim Stadium, beating the Angels, 4-0, before 32,491 fans. The Angels, winners of 11 of their last 15 road games--all against the AL East--are only 9-10 against the West.

But when you are 15 games over .500, one defeat hardly rates as bad news. The announcement that their rookie pitcher would miss a turn because of continuing discomfort in the back of his left shoulder had considerably more ominous overtones, however.

Abbott, who left with pain in his shoulder after limiting Milwaukee to just two hits in seven innings last Tuesday, is still experiencing stiffness. He threw in the bullpen before Friday night’s game and then was examined by Dr. Jules Rasinski, the team physician, who diagnosed the problem as tendinitis and prescribed oral medication and therapy to relieve the inflammation.

“It’s nothing all that serious, it’s mainly precautionary,” Manager Doug Rader said. “We just don’t want to take any chances.”

Mike Witt will move up a day and pitch Monday. Dan Petry will start Tuesday against Cleveland in place of Abbott, and Abbott’s next start is scheduled for June 12 in Texas.

Meanwhile, Gubicza and the Royals, who moved within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Angels, are feeling just fine. The Angels, who hit .298 on their most recent trip, managed 10 hits, but they advanced just two runners as far as third base.

Gubicza, who set a club record with 126 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing a home run, struck out everyone in the lineup at least once except Johnny Ray, Chili Davis and Wally Joyner, who accounted for half of the Angels’ hits.

Danny Tartabull gave Gubicza a bit of breathing room in the eighth inning when he slammed a towering two-run homer to left field off Chuck Finley, the American League’s pitcher of the month after compiling a 4-0 record and a 1.37 earned-run average in May.

And the Royals scored again in the ninth, collecting three hits off reliever Greg Minton. Singles by Bob Boone, who also had a double in his first appearance in Anaheim without a halo on his cap, and Jim Eisenreich set the stage for Kurt Stillwell’s run-scoring double.

“They got two two-out hits, and we didn’t get any,” Rader said. “Granted, one of them (Tartabull’s homer) went a long way, but that was the main difference in the game. Finley threw pretty well.”

Finley (7-3) had pitched consecutive complete games and had a 4-1 record with a 1.59 ERA at home before Friday.

“I didn’t have my good stuff,” Finley said, “but I kept battling to hold them to one run until we put something together. Then I just made a bad pitch to Tartabull with a fastball down the middle.”

This outing was certainly nothing to cause concern. Finley went eight innings, allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out one. It just was Gubicza’s night to shine--with an assist from Boone.

“I didn’t have to rely on scouting reports,” Boone said, smiling. “I know what I think will work against them, but I’m sure they thought the same thing about me . . . and it didn’t exactly work.”

The most suspense in the early innings was provided by the Angel outfield. Right fielder Claudell Washington and center fielder Devon White seemed to be trying to see who could rack up the most fines from the Angels’ kangaroo court.

With Boone on third base in the third inning, Washington caught Stillwell’s fly ball and fired a nice two-hop throw to the plate. But umpire Durwood Merrill was the only one near home. All the players were jogging toward the dugouts. Stillwell’s fly was out No. 3.

After Bo Jackson doubled, White made his contribution in the lights-are-on-but-nobody’s-home department. Pat Tabler hit a shallow fly ball to center, White made the catch and kept running toward the infield. When he noticed no one else was moving, he stopped and sheepishly returned to his position.

Kansas City had a 1-0 lead before White got to return to the dugout, though. Jackson took third on a wild pitch by Finley and scored on a single to center by Mike Macfarlane.

The Angels had runners on first and third with one in out in the fourth after consecutive bloop singles by Joyner and Davis, but Gubicza struck out Lance Parrish and Jack Howell to end the inning.

“It’s good feeling to get this first one (of the series),” Gubicza said. “All of our pitchers have been watching the Angels on satellite and saying, ‘Wow, great hitting and great pitching.’ ”

The Angels had neither Friday night, but they’re in a much better position to shrug off this defeat than the loss of Abbott for any length of time.

Angel Notes

Former Angel Bob Boone drew a crowd of reporters on his return to Anaheim Stadium Friday night but he wasn’t exactly dishing out controversial quotes. Despite reports that part of the Angels’ pitching success is because of new Angel catcher Lance Parrish’s tendency to call inside pitches--something Boone supposedly shied away from--Boone said he had no “animosity” toward his former teammates. “I think it was blown out of proportion,” Boone said. “From the people I’ve talked to I don’t believe the organization was laying it on me.” Boone pointed out that he was catching a rotation that included only two pitchers--Mike Witt and Chuck Finley--in the Angels’ current starting five (Kirk McCaskill missed almost two months of last season with a nerve injury). “You can say they’re pitching more aggressively, but you have to do with what you have,” he said. . . . Boone also said he always expected Parrish, a longtime friend, to have a good year. “I’m really pulling for Lance to do a great job,” Boone said, “ . . . well, not too great a job, just a great enough job to finish second.”

Tony Armas, on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring for the second time this season, ran for the first time in two weeks before Friday night’s game.