Revenge Quick for Angels : Jeffcoat Exits Early This Time ; Abbott Gets 5-2 Victory

On a night when Devon White, the man who never met an outside pitch he didn’t like, set a personal best with three walks in three at-bats, the Angels learned again that good things come to those who wait.

Shut out on five hits by the Texas Rangers’ Mike Jeffcoat last month in Arlington, the Angels returned home Monday night for a rematch with the Rangers’ left-hander--and scored a knockout in the third inning.

Turning three walks and two hits into three quick runs, the Angels disposed of Jeffcoat after only eight outs, wading through four Texas relief pitchers en route to a 5-2 victory before 29,614 at Anaheim Stadium.

Angel rookie Jim Abbott (7-5) got the victory, limiting the Rangers to one run through seven innings before balking home a second run in the top of the eighth.

Abbott struck out six, including second baseman Jeff Kunkel three times.

Jeffcoat (4-2) extended his scoreless streak against the Angels to 11 innings before breaking down in a hurry in the third, turning a 1-0 Texas lead into a 3-1 deficit.

Dick Schofield opened the inning by drawing a walk and one out later, White did the same. Wally Joyner followed with an opposite-field double into the left-field corner, scoring both Schofield and White.

Joyner then took third on a single by Brian Downing and scored on a passed ball by Ranger catcher Jim Sundberg. When Jeffcoat issued a two-out walk to Tony Armas, Texas Manager Bobby Valentine decided he’d seen enough.

In came Cecilio Guante, beginning a parade of pitchers out of the Ranger bullpen. Before the evening was through, the Angels would also become acquainted with Drew Hall, Kenny Rogers and Gary Mielke, adding two ninth-inning runs against Rogers and Mielke.

That broke the game open for Abbott, who limited Texas to five hits in his eight innings. Brian Harvey worked the ninth, allowing a hit and a walk before closing out his 11th save.

Abbott fell behind in the top of the third when he gave up a two-out walk to Sundberg and successive singles to Sammy Sosa and Scott Fletcher. Fletcher’s hit scored Sundberg and the Rangers led, 3-1.

But the Angels countered with their three-run outburst in bottom of the inning, giving Abbott an advantage he would protect until the eighth. Abbott yielded a fourth-inning double to Pete Incaviglia and a sixth-inning single to Ruben Sierra, but no Ranger reached third base thereafter.

Abbott also had three consecutive strikeouts, fanning Steve Buechele to end the fourth inning before opening the fifth with strikeouts of Kunkel and Sundberg.

Abbott completed a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out Kunkel and Sundberg again, before having a bit of trouble in the eighth.

With one out, Sosa doubled into the gap in right-center and took third on an infield out. From there, Sosa scored when Abbott unleashed a high fastball that nicked catcher Lance Parrish’s glove and was ruled a passed ball.

Finally, Abbott ended the inning by retiring Rafael Palmeiro on a ground ball.

The Angels, held scoreless by Hall and Rogers through the eighth inning, finally got to Rogers in the ninth.

Downing drew a leadoff walk and was singled to second by Chili Davis, prompting Valentine to change pitchers again and bring on Mielke. Mielke got Tony Armas to line into a double play--catching Davis off first base--but surrendered a double to deep center field by Parrish, the ball sailing well over the head of Sosa.

Downing scored on the hit and Parrish soon followed suit, coming home on a single to left by Glenn Hoffman, who was starting in place of injured third baseman Jack Howell.

Harvey replaced Abbott in the top of the ninth and, as is his custon of late, proceeded to make things more interesting than Angel Manager Doug Rader would have liked. With one out, Harvey gave up a single to Franco and a and a walk to Incaviglia to bring the tying run to home plate.

Thad Bosley, the first of two pinch-hitters employed by Valentine, grounded to first to move the runners up 90 feet. Rick Leach, batting for Kunkel, then struck out, finally bringing an end to Harvey’s 11th save of the season.

Angel Notes

Tony Armas was back in right field Monday night because Claudell Washington remained in Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital Medical Center for treatment of his inflamed left shin. Washington is receiving intravenous antibiotics for a condition that has been diagnosed as cellulitis and tendinitis. According to Angel trainer Rick Smith, the injury is similar to the shin infection that knocked Wally Joyner out of the final four games of the 1986 American League playoffs. One difference, though: Washington’s condition was apparently brought on by a brush with poison oak. Said Smith: “His kids got into some poison oak and during the last home stand, Claudell was rolling around with them and playing with them. A couple of days later, his thighs started itching. He was scratching them so hard, there were almost claw marks. Then, there was swelling in the shin. That might have been how the cellulitis got started.” Washington is expected to be released from the hospital today but Smith said the outfielder might not be ready to play again “until the weekend or the Thursday after the All-Star break.”