Down, 4-0, Angels Put It in Drive : Davis’ 2-Run Double Fuels Rally in 13-5 Win Over Orioles

Angel hearts had to sink a bit at the news developing on a pair of Eastern fronts Thursday evening.

In Toronto, Jose Canseco finally ended his four-month stay on the Oakland Athletics’ disabled list, an occasion Canseco promptly noted with a seventh-inning home run.

In Baltimore, the Angels fell behind the Orioles, 4-0, as Angel starter Bert Blyleven surrendered seven hits and a walk through the first two innings.

The Angels’ residence on first place in the American League West was looking more like a house of cards by the minute.

Then, they played the third inning. The Angels scored four times, tying the game and shattering the mood at Memorial Stadium, eventually pulling away for a 13-5 victory over the Orioles in this meeting of AL divisional leaders.

If Thursday marked the official opening of the second-half drive in the West, the Angels successfully responded to the initial challenge.

Even though the Angels stopped short of calling it that.

“I’d call it coincidental,” Angel Manager Doug Rader. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my gosh, Canseco’s back. We’d better score 13.’ That, in my mind, is not a good thing to do.

“What we need to do is focus on what we’re trying to do--and that is (staying well above) .500 and playing to our abilities. To be concerned with the scoreboard or concerned with Jose Canseco is counterproductive.”

Or as Blyleven put it, in somewhat earthier terms:

“We play Baltimore tomorrow and we don’t really give a . . . about what Jose Canseco does.”

At least, the Angels have the first-place swagger down.

With a 17-hit offense, the Angels retained their 1 1/2-game lead over the A’s. It was triggered by a resolute third-inning at-bat by Chili Davis--down in the count, 0-2, with two out, Davis worked the count full before lining a two-run double--and trickled down to every member of the batting order, even Dick Schofield, who homered for the first time since lastAug. 26.

Other home runs were provided by Lance Parrish and Jack Howell--No. 11 for each--as every Angel starter managed at least one hit.

This proved to be particularly good tidings for Blyleven, who parlayed what he described as “my worst outing of the year” into his ninth victory. To get it, Blyleven had to labor through six innings on a humid night, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks, and lean heavily on the Angel offense.

Not that the Angel offense minded.

“Bert’s bailed us out many times earlier this year,” designated hitter Brian Downing said. “This helped to even things out.”

Blyleven is 9-2 but could be 11-2 with a reasonable amount of support. On June 27, he held Cleveland to one run over 6 2/3 innings, and on July 2, he shut out Minnesota for seven--only to walk away without a decision in either game.

“We still owe Bert a couple more,” Rader said.

Thursday, the Angels bought Blyleven enough time to reach a career milestone, his 3,500th strikeout, which he recorded in the fifth inning against Larry Sheets. Eight more and he catches Walter Johnson, whose career total of 3,508 strikeouts ranked as baseball’s all-time record for 50 years.

In this decade, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton and Gaylord Perry have all eclipsed Johnson . . . and Blyleven is poised to become the next.

“This is nice,” Blyleven said. “I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time.”

And it would have been longer, if not for Davis’ third-inning at-bat with the bases loaded.

“Chili’s at-bat was a very pivotal at-bat,” Rader said. “If we don’t score in that inning or in the next, Bert Blyleven is no longer in the ballgame.”

After Davis doubled into the left-field corner, Oriole starter Jeff Ballard gave up the Angels’ third run on a wild pitch. Tony Armas then singled home another run, and the Angel deficit evaporated.

A run-scoring ground-out by Devon White gave the Angels a 5-4 lead in the fourth. White, however, helped erase that in the fifth, misplaying a sharp single by Mickey Tettleton into a triple. Tettleton then scored on a sacrifice fly by Joe Orsulak.

But the sixth inning brought the first of the Angel home runs, Parrish’s drive off Baltimore reliever Mark Thurmond (2-3) beginning a romp through the Orioles’ bullpen.

Mike Smith replaced Thurmond before the sixth inning was over and staggered through three nightmarish innings. He yielded six runs on six hits, including Howell’s two-run homer in the seventh and Schofield’s three-run homer in the ninth.

The Angels accomplished all this without the benefit of a regular batting practice session since Sunday morning. Angel hitters were given the entire three-day All-Star break off, and afternoon rains in Baltimore canceled batting practice before Thursday night’s game.

For the Angels, it was an opportune time to rediscover the art of run production, coming on the day their main competitors in the AL West regained their main run producer.

Angel Notes

Max Venable, the 32-year-old journeyman outfielder recalled by the Angels Thursday, has a new claim to fame. He’s the man who pinch-ran for Devon White. With White straining his right flexor muscle in the early innings Thursday, Venable took over for White in the seventh inning after White singled and moved to second base on a wild pitch. Venable is outfield insurance for the Angels, who began this trip with Claudell Washington on the disabled list and only three able-bodied outfielders on their roster. To make room for Venable, the Angels optioned pitcher Terry Clark to their triple-A affiliate in Edmonton.

Add Venable: Venable is making his first appearance on a big league roster since 1987, when he was with Cincinnati. He sat out last season. A .231 career hitter, Venable was released by Baltimore during spring training in 1988 and didn’t sign with another team until last winter, when the Angels invited him to their minor league camp. Venable made the Edmonton roster this spring and was batting .275 with 25 runs batted in and eight stolen bases at the time of his recall. Venable knows his stint with the Angels could be brief--Washington is eligible to come off the disabled list Sunday--but says it beats what he was doing this time last year. “I realize it could be only five days,” he said. “But you never know. I’m prepared to be there through September. I’ve been through a pennant race before and if I can pinch-run or get one at-bat and help them win one game, that’d be fine with me.”

Credit Angel minor league director Bill Bavasi with the save in solving a financial dispute that left the team’s Class-A Quad City club without uniforms or equipment earlier this week. Monday night, the Quad City Angels had all of their equipment confiscated by police in South Bend, Ind., after an Indiana court issued a judgment against the team for an unpaid 1988 hotel bill. The Works, a South Bend hotel, filed a complaint against Quad City after the club booked 20 rooms for three nights last season, then moved to another hotel and refused to pay The Works’ bill. Bavasi came to the rescue Tuesday and paid the tab, even though the Angels have only a working agreement with Quad City and are not responsible for travel costs. Bavasi’s method of payment? His own credit card. Quipped Angel General Manager Mike Port: “What he didn’t tell them was that his card had a $150 limit.”

JOSE CANSECO

He homers in his return to A’s lineup. American League Roundup, Page 6.