Angel Staff Proves Strong Up the Middle

The Angels entered the bottom of the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game with the New York Yankees trailing by two runs.

A walk, three singles, a stolen base, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly later, the Angels led by two runs.

Willie Fraser trotted to the mound between innings with an important mission: Maintain the lead at all cost. Fraser did his job perfectly for three innings. He limited the Yankees to singles by Don Slaught and Don Mattingly and held New York scoreless.

And there was no shame in giving up a single to Mattingly, who finished four for four with a two-run home run and four RBIs.

In the ninth inning, Bryan Harvey replaced Fraser--as planned.

“I’m the set-up man for Bryan,” Fraser said. “That’s my job. That’s all I do out there.”

The Yankees scored two runs off Harvey in the ninth, but the Angels won, 7-6, on Wally Joyner’s RBI single in the ninth.

Fraser did not win the game. Bob McClure, who pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief of Harvey, did. His only reward was holding off the Yankees as long as he could. Such is the job of a middle relief pitcher.

“I just go out and hold them as long as I can,” Fraser said.

It seems simple enough, although it’s often a dirty, thankless job. But Angel Manager Doug Rader, for one, appreciated Fraser’s work Tuesday.

“He came in and did a fine job,” Rader said. “And McClure came in and pitched well and got some big outs in the ninth.”

Fraser, who is 4-6 with two saves and a 2.94 earned-run average, has been as steady as any of the Angel relievers lately.

He has only given up three runs in his past 12 appearances and allowed only one run in his past 12 innings, a span of six outings.

Fraser replaced starter Mike Witt, who went five innings and gave up four runs and nine hits. The reliever promptly gave up a single to left field by Slaught. But he settled in and got the Yankees in order.

In the seventh, he got the first two batters before facingMattingly, who came into the game hitting .299. Mattingly had already delivered run-scoring singles in the first and third innings and hit a long home run to right-center in the fifth. This time, the Yankee first baseman pulled a pitch into right for another single.

But Fraser ended the threat by striking out Mel Hall.

He retired the Yankees in order in the eighth before turning the game over to Harvey.

“It’s the same stuff that’s been working since the All-Star break--the fastball and the slider,” Fraser said. “(And) I was getting ahead of the batters.”

Though Harvey faltered, the Angels won and, combined with Oakland’s 7-6 loss to Milwaukee, they moved within four games of the first-place Athletics.

“Sure, we want Oakland to lose as many as possible, but our main objective is for us to win,” Fraser said.

Though it didn’t go as smoothly as planned, Fraser did his part Tuesday night.