Indians Rock Witt to Stop Angels’ Roll

For the Angels, Monday began with the drafting of another left-handed pitcher named Abbott because, as club scouting director Bob Fontaine put it, “you always need to shore up your pitching.”

Later that evening, Mike Witt stepped to the mound to face the Cleveland Indians.

Bob Fontaine is a smart man.

Witt, ostensibly the Angels’ No. 1 starting pitcher, was hammered again Monday night in a 7-3 loss before 24,188 fans at Anaheim Stadium, failing to complete five innings for the second time in three starts. He surrendered seven runs in 4 1/3 innings, including home runs to Jerry Browne, Cory Snyder and Pete O’Brien.

It was the third consecutive loss for Witt, whose record dropped to 3-6. He has allowed more than twice as many home runs--15, in 12 starts--than any other Angel pitcher, and his earned-run average of 4.96 is nearly a run higher than any teammate’s.

So, welcome to the club, Kyle Abbott, the Cal State Long Beach pitcher who became the Angels’ No. 1 selection in Monday’s free-agent draft. As the Abbott who preceded you has aptly demonstrated, pitchers can advance fast in this organization.

Witt, knocked out of an 8-6 loss to the New York Yankees May 25 after 2 1/2 innings, found himself trailing after two pitches against Cleveland. Jerry Browne, the Indians’ leadoff batter, sent an 0-and-1 pitch into the right-field seats for his second home run of the season and an instant 1-0 Cleveland advantage.

The Angels responded with two runs in the first, but Witt gave it right back--and then some.

Snyder opened the second inning with a single, took second on an infield out, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Oddibe McDowell’s sacrifice fly.

An inning later, Snyder did even greater damage. After O’Brien walked and Joe Carter singled, Snyder deposited his seventh home run of the season into the left-field seats, giving Cleveland starter Bud Black (5-6) a 5-2 lead.

Witt pitched a scoreless fourth inning, but that was the last he completed. With one out in the fifth, Witt served up another home run--to O’Brien, his eighth--and a double to Carter, who took an extra base when Angel left fielder Chili Davis bobbled the ball in the corner for an error.

At that point, Angel Manager Doug Rader interceded. Willie Fraser was summoned from the bullpen and he retired the side, but not before Carter scored the Indians’ seventh run on Mark Salas’ single.

Witt was charged with seven earned runs, having yielded seven hits and two walks. He made 65 pitches and did not have a strikeout.

For Witt, it marked the fourth consecutive time that he had stopped an Angel winning streak. Witt’s last four starts have snapped Angel winning streaks of five, two, four and two games.

Afterward, Witt was unavailable for comment, having dressed and left the clubhouse before reporters were admitted.

“I guarantee you he feels bad,” Rader said. “When you’re struggling, you have a tendency to turn things inward, (and) Mike is as self-critical as anyone on our team.”

Both Rader and the Indians noticed an odd fluctuation in the velocity of Witt’s fastballs.

“Witt threw some balls 92 m.p.h.--and then the same pitch 86,” Rader said.

This evening saw the end of another Angel streak--Wally Joyner’s 12-game hitting streak--as a consequence of Bill Schroeder’s injury. Schroeder started at first base in place of Joyner because Joyner’s next hit against Black will be his first. Before Monday, Joyner was 0 for 10 in career encounters with Black.

Make that 0 for 12. Schroeder strained an upper left back muscle while diving for a ground ball in the second inning, forcing him out of the game in the third. Joyner replaced him and batted twice against Black, fouling out and flying out.

All of the Angels’ runs came during the first four innings, Black yielding just three singles in the last five innings. Two runs were scored in the first, with the Angels receiving a defensive assist from Carter, the Cleveland center fielder. With Brian Downing on second base, Carter misgauged a deep fly by Johnny Ray--first running in, then hopelessly scrambling back, only to have the ball sail over his head.

Downing scored on the play, and Ray wound up at third with a gift triple. He came home on Devon White’s sacrifice fly.

White figured in the Angels’ other run, lacing a one-out triple into the right-field corner in the fourth inning and scoring on Chili Davis’ ground-out.

But that was the extent of the Angels’ offense against Black, who hung in to finish his second complete game of the season.

“He kept us from scoring more runs than we did--and that was good enough,” Rader said.

If that’s to be construed as a backhanded compliment, so be it. Monday night, Rader would have been satisfied if he had been able to say the same for his starting pitcher.

Angel Notes

Are two Abbotts better than one? The Angels are banking on it, making Kyle Abbott the ninth player chosen in Monday’s free-agent draft. “Hey, 6-4 left-handers? Keep ‘em coming,” said Bob Fontaine, the Angels’ director of scouting. “In the last two years, we feel there have been five quality left-handed pitchers in the draft--and we got two of them. Everybody else has had to split the other three.” Abbott, who went 15-3 with a 2.37 earned-run average this season at Cal State Long Beach, is said to have pitches similar to Jim Abbott’s--fastball in the low 90s, hard-breaking slider and curveball, plus changeup. “He has late life to his fastball, which you like to see,” Fontaine said. “A good slider. A fabulous makeup. To go from Division III to All-American in one year (Abbott transferred from UC San Diego) shows he’s made a lot of progress, and he’s going to get stronger, he’s going to fill out. We see him still getting better and going to the next level.”