Blyleven Is Best Medicine Again, 7-4 : Four Homers Help Him Stop Indians, Keeping Angels Atop West

As Doug Rader would be glad to explain, all 162 games in a baseball season count the same. But even the Angel manager has to admit that Bert Blyleven finds a way to win the ones that, well, seem to be more important than the others.

When the Angels were mired in losing streaks of five and seven games earlier this season, Blyleven came to the rescue and ended both skids.

When they were on the brink of falling three games behind Oakland last week, he averted an Athletic sweep by outdueling A’s ace Dave Stewart.

And Saturday night, when the Angels needed a victory to stay in first place, it was Blyleven again in the right spot at the right time with the right stuff.

Keeping the Cleveland batters off balance with his sharp-breaking curve, the veteran right-hander went 7 1/3 innings as the Angels beat the Indians, 7-4, before 40,574 fans at Anaheim Stadium. It was Blyleven’s 16th consecutive start without a defeat.

This time, Blyleven got more than a little help from his friends with the bats. Chili Davis, Wally Joyner, Jack Howell and Lance Parrish all hit home runs as the Angels stayed percentage points ahead of the A’s, who rallied for a 5-4, 10-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins Saturday afternoon.

The victory put the Angels 25 games over .500 for the first time this season and provided some relief for Rader, who was stricken by abdominal flu.

“It was the same old Bert,” said Rader, adding that nothing could really make him feel better on this evening.

Davis hit a three-run homer in the first inning to start the Angel offense, and solo shots by Joyner (in the fifth), Howell (in the sixth) and Parrish (in the eighth) smothered the Indians’ attempts at a comeback.

Blyleven, who is off to the best start of his 19-season career, celebrated the birthday of his wife, Patty, with victory No. 13. He has two losses.

Rader spent most of Saturday afternoon in his office with the lights off, trying to regain enough energy to make it to the dugout for the game. He lasted one inning.

“I guess the home run I gave up to (Joe) Carter (leading off the second) made him sick,” Blyleven said.

It might have made Blyleven a little sick, too, if it hadn’t been for Davis. On the first pitch he had ever seen from Indian starter Rod Nichols, Davis lined a shot into the seats in left-center field for his sixth three-run homer of the season.

Blyleven then went into his hit-this mode, and Carter did just that, with a drive over the left-field fence that cut the Angel lead to two runs.

“That kind of pumped me up,” Blyleven said. “The most important innings are the ones after your team has scored. That’s when you have to shut the other team down. So I lay a cookie in there for Carter, and he does what he wants with it. That got me going again.”

So, because of Carter, Blyleven retired the next three batters in order, striking out both Joey Belle and Dave Clark to move past Gaylord Perry into fifth place on the all-time strikeout list. Blyleven struck out one more hitter, raising his total to 3,536.

“That’s really nice,” Blyleven said. “I played with Gaylord in Texas, and he’s the best competitor I’ve ever played with.”

By the time he had thrown his second pitch to Davis, Nichols probably rates the Angel left fielder as the best hitter he’s ever faced. In the third inning, Davis dispatched Nichols after pitch No. 2. Johnny Ray had singled and Wally Joyner had walked before Davis singled to center to put the Angels ahead, 4-1.

If Nichols had seen enough of Davis, Indian Manager Doc Edwards also had his fill of Nichols. Edwards summoned Rich Yett, who got Brian Downing to hit into a double play and Lance Parrish to pop out to end the inning.

Blyleven, with the help of two Angel double plays, faced the minimum number of hitters in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. But Cleveland got to him for a pair of runs in the seventh when the first three batters--Brook Jacoby, Dion James and Carter--singled.

But Blyleven made the next three batters ground into outs and got out of the inning with a 6-3 lead.

“I’m a pitcher that relies on defense,” Blyleven said, “and the guys have played super defense for me this year.”

The Indians cut the lead to two in the eighth when a single by Felix Fermin and a walk to Jerry Browne chased Blyleven. Greg Minton came on and gave up one run on a slow grounder through the hole into left. But Minton got the next two batters and yielded a harmless single in the ninth to pick up his seventh save.

“Bert pitched his rear end off, like he has all year, and I didn’t want to blow it for him,” Minton said.

He didn’t, and once again the media was huddled around Blyleven’s locker, asking questions about how it feels to win the big ones.

“Every game I pitch is the most important game I’ve ever pitched in the big leagues,” he said. “You can’t look back, you can only go forward.”

And so far, with Blyleven at the controls, it’s been onward and upward for the soaring Angels.

Angel Notes

Greg Minton, who had surrendered 17 hits and 10 runs in 7 2/3 innings of work before picking up a victory in a 1 1/3-inning stint Friday night, has altered his delivery and his approach as well. “Let’s be honest,” Minton said. “I’m a sinkerball pitcher and they were hammering the sinker. So obviously, some adjustments were needed.” Joe Coleman, the Angel bullpen coach, has been working with Minton, and the 38-year-old right-hander has put some of Coleman’s suggestions into practice. “Now, I have no big arm motion and I have no leg kick,” Minton said. “And I’m throwing the curveball a lot more. I’m old enough to figure out that I’m not getting by with just one pitch anymore.” Minton said that he has always had a good curve, but convincing himself to throw it more often was the hard part. Minton relied heavily on the sinking fastball during his glory years with San Francisco--he had 111 saves in a five-year stretch (1980-84) with the Giants--and said his arm felt so good that he believed he could be a one-pitch pitcher again. “I used to throw a 93-m.p.h. sinker,” he said. “Now I can get it up to 88. I get healthy and decide I’m gonna show ‘em I can blow the sinker right by ‘em. I showed ‘em, all right. I was almost out of the league after four games.” Minton came up with his second strong outing in a row Saturday night, yielding two ground-ball singles en route to his seventh save.

While Minton has struggled, the rest of the bullpen has performed well. In nine outings before Saturday night, Angel relievers had a victory, four saves and a 1.64 earned-run average. Bryan Harvey has four consecutive saves and has recorded 15 strikeouts in his last 7 2/3 innings. Willie Fraser has given up one earned run in his last 16 innings. And Bob McClure has stranded 30 of the last 34 runners he’s inherited. . . . Claudell Washington made his first start in the outfield Saturday night since injuring his left shoulder in a collision with the wall Aug. 5 in Milwaukee. “It feels good,” Washington said before the game. “I’m ready to give it a shot.” . . . Pitcher Rich Monteleone, who was optioned to Edmonton for the second time Aug. 9, was in the Angel clubhouse after Saturday nights’ game. Angel spokesman Tim Mead said: “Obviously, there will be a transaction announced tomorrow.”

STRIKEOUT LEADERS The top 10 all-time strikeout leaders through Aug. 19:

1 *Nolan Ryan 4,994 2 Steve Carlton 4,136 3 Tom Seaver 3,640 4 Don Sutton 3,574 5 *Bert Blyleven 3,536 6 Gaylord Perry 3,534 7 Walter Johnson 3,508 8 Phil Niekro 3,342 9 Ferguson Jenkins 3,192 10 Bob Gibson 3,117

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