Bosio Is Old Kid on Block : Brewer Assumes Role of Veteran on Staff

For the Milwaukee Brewers, thoughts of a division championship have dwindled to near nil.

Subpar pitching and hitting has spelled doom for the Brewers this season. They came into Wednesday’s game with Angels at Anaheim Stadium, 8 1/2 games behind the American League East-leading Toronto and four games below .500. It’s not been the best of seasons for the Brewers.

So, with the season winding down, Manager Tom Trebelhorn finds himself fielding a lineup that includes Robin Yount and the Who Are Theys?

Mike Felder, Bill Spiers, Greg Vaughn, George Canale, in addition to Yount, were the principle players in the Brewers’ 7-4 victory over the Angels Wednesday night.

Add to the list one more name: Chris Bosio.

Bosio limited the Angels to four hits and one run, a seventh-inning solo home run by Wally Joyner, before running out of gas in the ninth. With late help from Dan Plesac, Bosio was able to pick up the victory, pushing his team-leading total to 15 against nine losses.

Bosio wound up giving up four runs on eight hits and striking out six. He did not walk a batter.

He got some help from Yount and his youthful teammates. Yount hit a two-run home run in the first inning for what seemed, until the ninth, to be the only runs the Brewers would need. Canale’s first major league hit went for a two-run home run in the fourth that stretched the lead to 4-0.

Surrounded by new names in Milwaukee, Bosio has certainly made a name for himself this season.

“I’m in my third year and I think I’ve earned my keep in the starting rotation,” said Bosio, who hasn’t won as many games since he won 17 while at Class-A Beloit, Wis.

He’s sort of been forced to assume the role of ace of the Milwaukee staff.

Teddy Higuera, who has won 16, 18 and 20 games the past three seasons, is only 9-5, Don August, from Capistrano Valley High, is 9-11, and Jerry Reuss 8-7. So the Brewers have counted heavily on Bosio.

And he’s responded well enough.

He had the Angel hitters baffled by a breaking ball.

“It took us a long time before we were disciplined enough to stay back on his breaking ball,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “We just weren’t able to get runs early.”

And that killed the Angels’ chances to win.

The Angels had only two hits--a first-inning double by Max Venable and a broken bat single to center by Jack Howell in the fifth--off Bosio after five innings and trailed, 5-0.

Joyner’s home run was the hardest hit ball Bosio gave up all night.

But Milwaukee still led, 5-1, at that point. They extended it to 7-1 in the eighth when Charlie O’Brien scored on a ground out and Spiers hit a solo home run.

“Bosio contained their offense,” Trebelhorn said. “He made it difficult for them to bunch hits together. He did a pretty good job of pitching.”

Bosio appeared to be in command heading into the ninth, but everything came unraveled.

Four singles and three runs later, the Angels had cut the lead to 7-4 and Bosio had to be replaced by Plesac.

He got Howell to strike out and Ron Tingley, a catcher acquired Wednesday from the Cleveland Indians’ organization, to ground out to end the game.

“(Bosio) threw only 89 pitches through eight innings,” Trebelhorn said. “That’s a pretty efficient job of pitching.

“He didn’t let a lead-off hitter on base until the ninth (when Venable singled to center).”

“I pitched well,” Bosio said. “I had four pitches working. The fastball, the split-finger fastball, the change and I broke out the curve ball late.”