Minton Gets the Royal Treatment : Tartabull’s Homer Ends Streak, Deals Angels 5-4 Defeat

KANSAS CITY — Today would have been the one-year anniversary of the last home run hit when Angel relief pitcher Greg Minton was on the mound. For 364 days, the man they call Moon hadn’t launched a thing. Go deep, young man? Not while Minton’s pitching.

The last home run was etched in Minton’s memory. The date: June 11, 1988. The site: Anaheim Stadium. The hitter: Kansas City’s Kurt Stillwell.

“A high sinker,” Minton recalled. “I challenged him with my Nolan Ryan sinker. That pitch didn’t work too well in the National League--and it doesn’t work too well here, either.”

Another Royal, Danny Tartabull, made Minton mindful of that fact again Saturday night. With a single swing, Tartabull broke the homerless streak as well as an eighth-inning tie, sending a high sinker over the center-field fence and sending the Angels to a third straight defeat, 5-4, at Royals Stadium.

Coming on a full-count pitch with two out in a 4-4 game, Tartabull’s home run was the first allowed by Minton over a course of 105 2/3 innings, an Angel record. Before that, Minton set themajor league record for the longest homerless stretch--269 1/3 innings, from 1978 to 1982--while pitching for the San Francisco Giants.

So, this doesn’t happen all that often.

“It was inevitable that it was going to happen sooner or later,” Minton said. “I just wish it would’ve been a little later. The timing wasn’t great.”

The timing was in the bottom of the eighth inning, coming minutes after the Angels had rallied for two runs to tie in the top of the eighth. Minton retired the first five batters he faced and was a strike away from making Tartabull No. 6.

“The momentum was ours,” Minton said. “I get one more strike, and who knows?”

Instead, Tartabull sent his third deep fly of the night to center field. Devon White made a spectacular catch on the first, slamming into the fence as he backhanded the ball. White dropped the second for an error as he tried to make a basket catch on the warning track.

The third, Tartabull said, was the weakest of the lot. His initial feeling was that it might bounce off the wall, with a little luck. So rather than trot, he sprinted.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to go,’ ” Tartabull said.

Instead, the ball cleared the wall, and Tartabull, having just jogged a few memories, eased into a jog. The home run was Tartabull’s eighth of the season, but it was much more than that.

It won a game and ruined an anniversary.

From Stillwell ’88 to Tartabull ‘89, Minton Across America began and ended with a couple of Royals.

“Good,” Tartabull said with a grin. “We’ll keep this in the family here.”

Minton (1-1) wound up a loser for the first time this season after the Angels erased a 4-0 deficit by scoring twice in the seventh and twice in the eighth innings. A two-run single by Brian Downing knocked Bret Saberhagen out of the game in the seventh before White’s two-run single off Tom Gordon (7-2) forged an eighth-inning tie.

Minton replaced Angel starter Bert Blyleven in the seventh after Blyleven surrendered four runs in six innings--two on run-scoring hits by George Brett, making his first appearance after spending six weeks on the disabled list.

And for five batters, it was Minton as usual. Five straight outs, four of them on ground balls.

Home run? The thought rarely crosses Minton’s mind.

“I throw one pitch 90% of the time,” said Minton, a firm believer in the power of the sinking fastball. “And the pitch I throw goes down in the strike zone. I better not give up a lot of home runs. I give up ground balls and ground balls and ground balls.

“You might see 11 balls in a row go through the middle. But I feel like I shouldn’t give up home runs.”

Angel Manager Doug Rader has the same feeling, which is why he often employs Minton during games that are tied in the eighth inning.

“Historically, he’s shown that (he doesn’t allow home runs),” Rader said. “How long has it been?”

Rader was told it was 105 2/3 innings.

Rader stared at his half-eaten plate of meatloaf.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said softly.

One a year is a pretty fair ratio, and Rader would probably sign on the dotted line right now if it would guarantee him another 364 homerless days from Minton. But he would have preferred another 24 hours, making it a nice round number, easy to remember.

“My time was up,” Minton said with a shrug.

And on this evening, as far as the Angels were concerned, it came at the worst of times.

Angel Notes

Kansas City’s Steve Farr pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his 12th save, but Angel Manager Doug Rader wasn’t so sure about the first out credited to Farr. Before fouling out to third base, Chili Davis sliced a fly ball that appeared to strike the left-field foul line but was ruled foul by third-base umpire Ted Hendry. Rader left the dugout to protest, but Hendry stood by his decision and Davis was denied a double. “It was a fair ball,” Rader said. “(Hendry) said he ran out there and saw it. I can’t argue with that--he hustled out there. Unfortunately, he made the wrong call, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

George Brett hadn’t played in a game since April 29 because of a knee injury, but he marked his return to the Royals’ lineup with a double, a single and two RBIs in four at-bats. Both hits came against Bert Blyleven, a longtime Brett nemesis. “I’ve got to be satisfied,” Brett said. “I don’t think I ever got two hits off Bert (in one game) since I’ve been in the American League.” . . . The loss was the Angels’ third straight, equaling their longest losing streak of the season, and their fourth defeat in five games.