Angels Go Into First as Finley, Schofield Help Beat Texas, 2-1

Dick Schofield doesn’t hit deep that often, so this drive, coming in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday night, caught the Texas Rangers’ outfield by surprise.

It also wasn’t caught, which was the most heartening development of the game for the Angels.

Racing back to make up ground under Schofield’s shot into the gap, Ranger right fielder Ruben Sierra and center fielder Cecil Espy got to the ball, but not before they got tangled. Trying to backhand the ball, Sierra was sideswiped by Espy, and the result was a loose ball in the outfield, a 1-0 Texas lead down the drain and a 2-1 Angel victory in the making.

By the time Sierra and Espy collected the ball and recollected themselves, the Angels’ Jack Howell had scored from first base and Schofield was standing on third, soon to score the decisive run on a sacrifice fly to center field by Johnny Ray.

That simply helped the Angels turn what seemed to be another frustrating evening against Hough into another late-inning victory over the Rangers, coming 24 hours after Tony Armas had snapped a 2-2 tie with his three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Before 24,852 fans at Anaheim Stadium, the Angels beat Texas for the third time in as many nights, making starting pitcher Chuck Finley a winning pitcher for the 10th time.

That’s one more victory than Finley’s career best--he was 9-15 in 1988--and it could be enough to gain him a berth on Tony La Russa’s American League All-Star pitching staff, which will be announced today.

At 10-6, Finley is the Angels’ winningest pitcher. His 2.24 earned-run average is second-best in the league, just a few ticks behind teammate Bert Blyleven’s 2.16. And his eight complete games give him a share of the league lead with Kansas City’s Mark Gubicza.

More than that, he pitched the Angels past the Oakland Athletics, who lost to the Royals Wednesday night, into first place in the American League West.

Is that a decent enough All-Star resume?

“I would certainly like to think so,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said.

So would Finley, who admits he has been trying to picture the scenario for a while.

“When I was 7-2, I thought about it,” Finley said. “It would be nice, but I’m not going to be heartbroken if I’m not on the team.”

Finley outdueled longtime Angel nemesis Hough (5-9) by simply outlasting him. Hough shut out the Angels for seven innings but ultimately and critically wavered in the eighth.

Lance Parrish led off the inning with a walk, only Hough’s second of the game, and Howell tried to bunt him to second. Before he did, however, Howell appeared to be hit on the leg by an inside pitch--at least in the eyes of the Angels. Plate umpire Joe Brinkman saw it differently, however, ruling the ball was a foul tip off Howell’s bat.

Rader briefly argued the call but to little avail. Parrish trotted back to first base, and Howell returned to the batter’s box, from where he forced Parrish at second base for the inning’s first out.

That brought up Schofield, the Angels’ .216-hitting shortstop, who hasn’t homered since 1988. Protecting a one-run lead, the Ranger outfield was playing Schofield in, which seemed a sound strategy at the time.

But Schofield skied one into the gap, forcing Espy and Sierra on their mad scramble. And in the end, they became scrambled, tumbling around while the ball bounded free, rolling toward the warning track.

From their vantage points, Hough and Texas Manager Bobby Valentine believed that the ball should have been an out.

“It looked like one of our guys could have caught the ball, but they had a communication gap,” Hough said.

Valentine said: “The ball hung up there, (but) no one called for it and it dropped. Charlie can’t pitch better than that. He’s had some bad luck here.”

Valentine was referring to 1986, when Hough flirted with a no-hitter, a bid he took into the ninth inning. But a three-base outfield error, a Wally Joyner single and two passed balls later, Hough wound up a 2-1 loser . . . and the Angels were en route to the AL West championship.

Three years later, the Angels are 49-32 at the season’s halfway point, hoping that history will repeat.

After Schofield’s triple, which accounted for only his 13th RBI of the season, Valentine replaced Hough with Jeff Russell, which was to replace knuckleballs with smoke. This, Valentine hoped, would be enough to unnerve the Angels’ ensuing hitter, Ray.

Russell even fired two warm-up pitches to the screen, just to emphasize the point. Ray hardly flinched. Calmly, he delivered a sacrifice fly to center field, and Schofield sprinted home with what eventually was the winning run.

“In a game-winning situation, Johnny Ray is the guy I want coming up to the plate,” Rader said.

Wednesday night, Rader got what he wanted, and maybe today, Finley will get what he wants.

And at long last, Angel fans will get what they want.

Nolan Ryan pitches in Anaheim Stadium for the first time in 10 years tonight. Nine more interesting innings are the forecast.

Angel Notes

With injuries mounting in the Angel bullpen, the club recalled another pitcher from triple-A Edmonton Wednesday--Terry Clark, who began the season on the disabled list with a torn rotator cuff. Angel Manager Doug Rader thought that he needed additional pitching support with one reliever (Greg Minton) on the disabled list and another (Rich Monteleone) potentially headed there. Monteleone developed a sore right rib cage after pitching Sunday in Minnesota and figures to be unavailable through the All-Star break. “We thought about putting Monty on the DL,” Rader said. “But we’ve already got Minton on the 15-day (disabled list) and you’re only allowed one pitcher. Monty would’ve had to go on the 21-day (disabled list), and we didn’t want to lose him for that long.” So the Angels decided to demote infielder Jim Eppard for the second time in a month to create a roster vacancy for Clark.

Add Clark: Four months ago, Clark had a torn rotator cuff and two options--have surgery or rehabilitate with weights and hope for the best. Clark opted for the latter and is back in the big leagues because of it. “If I can stay away from that knife, I’ll be real happy,” Clark said. “I’ve been happy with the progress I’ve been able to make. The arm is pretty much 100% now.” Clark was 8-2 with a 3.72 earned-run average in 13 starts with Edmonton. In 87 innings, he struck out 56 and walked only 17. With the Angels, Clark will join Dan Petry in a long relief role, now that Willie Fraser has temporarily slipped into Minton’s assignment as set-up man for Bryan Harvey.

Minton threw in the bullpen before Wednesday’s game and said he “felt good.” Minton said he experienced no problems throwing sliders as well as fastballs. . . . Reserve catcher Bill Schroeder was the latest Angel to require a visit to Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Schroeder had his sore neck examined by Dr. Robert Watkins, who prescribed oral medication.