Mariners Deep-Six Angels in 8th : Seattle Gets to Bullpen for All Its Runs in One Inning of 6-5 Win

The Angels brought their home run show into the Kingdome Monday night, and after five innings in this facility, where the ball flies as if it had wings, they had added three more homers to their major league-leading total.

The Angels weren’t the only team in this version of home run derby, however, and the Mariners proved they pack a little punch, too. Seattle scored six times in the eighth inning and pulled out a 6-5 victory in front of 19,494.

The loss cut the Angels’ lead in the American League West to a half-game as the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, on Tony Phillips’ two-run homer in the ninth inning.

Angel starter Mike Witt yielded his sixth hit of the game--a leadoff single to Alvin Davis--in the eighth and then watched as the Angels’ top two relievers were slapped around the Kingdome. Nine Mariners came to the plate in the inning.

Greg Minton was the first to provide no relief, giving up a walk, a single, a two-run single to Mike Kingery and a two-run double to pinch-hitter Dave Cochrane--who came about a foot shy of a game-tying home run when his drive to right-center hit near the top of the wall.

Angel Manager Doug Rader summoned Bryan Harvey, who surrendered the game-winning, two-run homer to deep left field by pinch-hitter Jim Presley.

“He got behind me 3-and-1,” Presley said, “and I was looking for that fastball. It was good for the team and the fans. I don’t normally take curtain calls, but this was really good for the fans.”

Harvey watched Presley tip his hat to the crowd and then gave up another single before Bob McClure came in and got Greg Briley to line into an inning-ending double play.

“Mike got stiff and we handed it over to the people who usually do the job,” Rader said. “They just didn’t get it done tonight. It happens.

“But you have to give the Mariners credit. They’ve got a very young ballclub that’s not easily discouraged, and that makes them dangerous. There’s a lot to be said for youthful exuberance, and in this park it doesn’t take a whole lot to get something rolling.”

And, for Mariner starter Scott Bankhead, it didn’t take a whole lot to get him reeling. Bankhead turned 26 Monday, but the right-hander didn’t have much reason to celebrate.

Bankhead has become quite accustomed to very unhappy birthdays. He is 0-3 with a 9.82 earned-run average on his birthday, having surrendered 16 earned runs and eight homers in 14 2/3 innings of his three birthday starts.

And this one looked as if it were going to be a cakewalk for the Angels, who increased their home run total to 101 on shots by Lance Parrish, Wally Joyner and Chili Davis.

The last time Bankhead (10-4) gave up more than one home run in a game was the last time he lost a game--May 17 against Milwaukee.

The Angel batters were zeroed in and playing long ball from the outset Monday night. In the second inning, Davis ripped a two-out double that one-hopped the wall in left-center, and Parrish followed with a rocket into the seats above the 23-foot-high wall in right.

They boosted the advantage to 5-0 in the fourth with just three swings. Devon White led off with a line-drive single to right and Joyner belted a 400-foot homer to right-center. It boosted Joyner’s RBI total in July to 25.

One out later, Davis slugged one out in right.

Witt, who struck out seven to tie his season high in strikeouts, appeared to be the benefactor of the latest Angel homer binge.

He was 1-1 with three no-decisions in his last five outings and wasn’t overpowering on this night. As usual, he found himself working behind in the count often, but he shuffled and danced his way out of one tough situation after another.

The Mariners had runners on first and third in the first inning, but Witt struck out Scott Bradley to end the threat. They had another first-and-third opportunity in the fifth, but Witt struck out Harold Reynolds and got Briley on a warning-track fly ball to left. They loaded the bases on three singles in the sixth, but Witt fanned Edgar Martinez to get out of that jam.

Witt, who is moving in on Frank Tanana for the No. 2 spot on the Angels’ all-time strikeout list, had been making very slow progress in that department this season, striking out three or fewer 12 times in 22 starts.

And that may have been the reason Seattle Manager Jim Lefebvre asked home plate umpire Derryl Cousins to take a look at Witt’s cap. Cousins gave it a thorough once-over and handed it back to Witt with a shrug.

But no one was thinking about Witt a little later when the Mariners’ crashed the fences--and the Angels’ party.

But Lefebvre was still talking about the Angels’ chances for a Western Division title afterward.

“It looks like a one-game playoff to me,” he said. “I think Oakland and California are pretty evenly matched. I think it’ll go down to the wire.”

If it does, the Angels are hoping their bullpen aces are a bit sharper for that game.

Angel Notes

Manager Doug Rader said before Monday night’s game that he wanted to settle “once and for all” the question of the extent of Brian Downing’s rib-cage injury. “He’s had it for a year and a half and it’s something that is going to give him a degree of discomfort,” Rader said. “But he realizes that everything that can be done has been done and he’s going to deal with it. Now, can we just drop it?” The question arose again during Downing’s first at-bat Monday night, however, when his knees buckled and he dropped to the ground, wincing in pain twice after swinging and fouling off pitches. . . . Chuck Finley and Mike Witt, who are scheduled to pitch Friday and Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers, will leave the team and fly to Milwaukee early Thursday. The rest of the team will leave after Thursday night’s game in Seattle and should arrive in Milwaukee “about 6 a.m., if we’re very, very lucky,” Rader said.

Mike Dunne (1-5), who was scheduled to start Wednesday night, will pitch tonight for Seattle against Angel rookie Jim Abbott. Seattle Manager Jim Lefebvre hasn’t decided who will start Wednesday night. . . . How important is stability? The Mariners placed right-hander Gene Harris, who has a pulled muscle in his rib cage, on the 15-day disabled list Monday and recalled Tom Niedenfuer from triple-A Calgary. It was the Mariners’ 66th player transaction this season. The Angels have made just 15 personnel moves this year. Seattle has had so many new players come in, they have a media guide “supplement” with biographies of seven players who weren’t with the team on opening day.