It’s Angels Who Do the Bashing in Win Over A’s

The Oakland Athletics’ starters look more like offensive linemen than baseball players. The A’s first seven batters Monday night averaged 6-foot-2 and 213 pounds.

It was the Angels, however, who were flexing their muscles as Chili Davis and Jack Howell hit solo homers in a 5-4 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 44,548 in the Oakland Coliseum.

Davis, who came up in the seventh inning with five hits in his last 38 at-bats and hadn’t hit a home run since July 1, lined a shot over the fence in left-center. And Howell, who had one hit in his previous 24 at-bats, homered to center in the eighth.

Both came against A’s reliever Gene Nelson (2-5), who had given up only two home runs this season before Monday.

“They’ve both persevered and come through with some big hits when we’ve needed them most,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “And that’s more important than hitting .300.”

The homers gave the Angels a 5-3 lead, but the A’s scored once in the eighth on a single by Rickey Henderson, a groundout and a run-scoring single by Mark McGwire.

Bryan Harvey came in to get the last four outs and earn his 13th save, but the Angels’ version of Senor Smoke--(that’s what Rader does a lot of when Harvey’s pitching)--made it, well, interesting once again.

Harvey, who has walked 28 batters in 35 innings this season, was wild again Monday night.

He ran the count to 3-and-0 on Jose Canseco, who was leading off the ninth, before striking him out on three called strikes. Then he walked Terry Steinbach on four pitches. Then he got Tony Phillips and pinch-hitter Ron Hassey on called third strikes.

“Everything’s not going to be perfect,” Rader said. “Bryan got the four outs we needed. So he got three balls on a couple of people and walked a guy. That’s just Bryan.”

The victory lifted the Angels to a one-game lead over Oakland in the American League West. Both teams have deemed this the who-cares series--insisting it’s too early for a showdown. But the Angels looked excited while running out to congratulate Harvey after the ninth.

“I don’t know what it feels like to play in a playoff game, so I don’t know what a ‘playoff atmosphere’ is like,” Harvey said. “But hell, it’s July. If we lose the next two here and we can’t come back, we don’t deserve it.”

Davis, who is struggling at the plate these days, said the series carries a certain amount of importance.

“I personally feel we can compete with these guys,” he said. “But it’s important that we win now and establish that. But it’s still going to be a long year.”

If it wasn’t a showdown, it was certainly show time.

“That was a big league game in every way,” Rader said. “Did you notice how close the two teams’ statistics were coming in? We had the same (team) batting averages and we had scored four more runs this season. It’s unbelievable how close we are and the game reflected that.”

It started out as if it might be an Oakland blowout.

Angel starter Kirk McCaskill, who missed his last start because of a tired arm, looked as if nine-days rest might not have been enough.

Rickey Henderson led off the first inning with a line-drive single to center and Carney Lansford followed with a line-drive single to right, sending Henderson to third. Henderson scored when Dave Parker grounded into a double play and then McGwire flied deep to center to end the inning.

The A’s got at least one hit in each of the next three innings, but three more Angel double plays kept McCaskill in the game. He lasted five innings, yielding seven hits and three runs.

The Angels got to Oakland starter Curt Young for three runs in the fourth inning with four consecutive singles and some smart baserunning by Brian Downing. With one out, Johnny Ray singled to center, Devon White singled to right and Wally Joyner drove in Ray with another single to right. Downing’s single to right scored White to give the Angels a 2-1 lead.

Then Lance Parrish hit a soft grounder to second baseman Tony Phillips. Downing stopped in front of Phillips and ran back toward first, forcing Phillips to throw to first for one out. Downing then broke for second and was out by 20 feet, but he had bought enough time to allow Joyner to score the Angels’ third run before the third out was recorded.

“Everyone’s talking about Chili and Jack, but what about the baserunning of Brian Downing?” Rader asked. “That was as big a run as any in the game.”

The A’s tied the score in the fifth, almost without the benefit of a hit. Phillips walked and Mike Gallego hit a drive to right-center. Right fielder Tony Armas appeared to catch the ball, but it popped loose and Gallego was credited with a double, the A’s only extra-base hit of the game. The next two batters--Rickey Henderson and Lansford--hit sacrifice flies to center, tying the score, 3-3.

Willie Fraser came on to pitch the sixth for the Angels and earned the victory to boost his record to 3-5. He retired six A’s in a row before surrendering a leadoff single to Henderson in the eighth.

Still, the Angels, who were swept in a three-game series here in late April, were trying hard to stay low-key about this particular victory. Rader brought home that point when asked what bearing this victory would have on today’s game.

“We’ll show up,” he said.

WELCOMED RELIEF Bryan Harvey gets four big outs to finish off the Angel victory. Elliott Teaford’s story, Page 5.