Angel Bats Stifled by A’s, 3-1

It came down to one at-bat, one pitch. The Angels seemed to come so close to making one run stand against the Oakland Athletics.

But not that close.

Not when Jose Canseco can wallop a 2-2 pitch “as hard as any human being will hit it,” according to Angel Manager Doug Rader. Not when the Angels needed four hits for one run and could score no more despite 10 hits off Scott Sanderson and Gene Nelson.

Canseco’s two-out, two-run home run in the seventh inning off reliever Mike Witt proved the difference Wednesday as Oakland rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Angels at Anaheim Stadium.

Wally Joyner’s RBI single in the sixth inning was the game’s only run until the seventh. Kirk McCaskill labored to overcome five walks and hold the A’s to four hits through six.

Witt (0-2) issued a one-out walk to Rickey Henderson, who was forced at second by Carney Lansford. Canseco, who was three for 31 against Witt, unloaded his third home run of the season, a tremendous shot to left-center field.

“I was trying to throw the same pitch I threw to him at 2-and-0, but I didn’t get it where I wanted it,” Witt said of the curveball Canseco hit over the fence.

“I’m making it hard on myself. The situations (in which Witt has come in) haven’t been hard. The last game (a 7-4 loss to Minnesota on Friday), I let guys get on base with a walk to get back into it and the same thing happened tonight.”

The A’s added an insurance run in the ninth inning off Bryan Harvey.

Nelson pitched the last three innings to earn the save, his first of the season.

Although the Angel bullpen was ineffective in both games against the A’s and absorbed the additional blow Wednesday of losing Greg Minton to an elbow injury that might require surgery, Rader said he is not unhappy with his relief pitching.

“I feel fine about it,” he said. “Harv’s throwing the ball well. Witt threw a pitch to the one hitter in baseball who’s locked in better than anyone on earth. . . . Even though we’re not hitting on all eight cylinders, it’s a nice thing to know we’re close. Even though we lost these two ballgames, I understand the nature of our ballclub and the way we competed. These guys (the A’s) are incumbents. There were a lot of fine things done over the last two days that will be lost to history because we lost. But we as a staff are not overly concerned. We were this close and we’re going to get better.”

Being close and still losing was a consolation for Dante Bichette.

“A break here or there and we could have won both games,” he said. “To be so close shows us we can win these games. It’s just one extra play we need.

“It’s early yet. We’re busting our butts out there. Everybody thinks the A’s are the team to beat, but we know we’ve got to beat every team. This was a big series, but we treated it just like any other.”

Canseco isn’t like any other player. “He’s got some power,” Bichette said. “I didn’t think he hit (the home run) well enough to go out.”

The Angels now go on a two-week, five-city trip with one mission: Invigorate the offense and get the relievers to the point where they can preserve the leads--or fine performances--handed to them by the starters.

“We’ve got to score some runs, but more than that, we’ve got to do the job in the ‘pen,’ ” Witt said. “We’ve got to do the job out there.”

Angel Notes

The Angels’ trade talks are said to be heating up, with Devon White’s name mentioned most prominently and a capable leadoff hitter the quarry, rather than the power-hitting outfielder General Manager Mike Port had been seeking over the winter. White’s lack of success as the leadoff hitter apparently has exhausted Port’s patience. White was hitting .152 before Wednesday night’s game, his lowest average since he was hitting .150 on April 10, 1988. He had struck out at least once in each of the previous seven games in which he batted. The Angels also may have found the power-hitting outfielder they sought within their ranks in Dante Bichette, who led the club with three home runs and nine RBIs before Wednesday’s game.

Although the Phillies’ Len Dykstra would seem an ideal solution, Philadelphia is not likely to trade the Garden Grove High graduate. As for Tim Raines, Port said he had spoken to his Expo counterpart, Dave Dombrowski, only in jest after hearing that the Angels were about to acquire Raines in exchange for Kirk McCaskill, Mike Witt and White. “I did talk to Montreal about that,” Port said, “because the next day I couldn’t remember who the third player was from us, and David couldn’t remember who the first two were from us. It was news to all of us.”

It would fit Port’s conservative style to trade for a lesser-known player. He said that his trade talks continue, but “the names are not what’s being speculated. I’m available to be overwhelmed.”

Catcher Bill Schroeder (sore right elbow) threw from a crouch behind the plate Wednesday for the first time since spring training, when he aggravated the elbow. He pronounced the effort “a success,” but is still scheduled for a visit Friday to the doctor who performed his ligament surgery in 1985. . . . Pitcher Bob McClure, on the 21-day disabled list because of a sore left elbow, said his arm was less painful. “This is the first day I’ve noticed some improvement,” he said.

A’s Manager Tony La Russa dropped Mark McGwire from the cleanup spot to sixth Wednesday and had designated hitter Ken Phelps hitting fourth. However, he said the move was temporary and only because of the pair’s career records against McCaskill. “Ken has hit a few bombs off McCaskill,” La Russa said, “and McGwire hasn’t hit quite as many bombs.” Phelps has hit .294 with three home runs off the Angel right-hander, compared with McGwire’s .143 and one home run.

A CAT scan on the right elbow of reliever Greg Minton showed bone chips and “loose bodies” that probably will require surgery. Angel Manager Doug Rader said that while a definitive diagnosis hasn’t been made, “I would not be surprised if it required surgery and if that’s the case, we might lose him until around the all-star break.” After holding a meeting with his coaches, executive vice president Dan O’Brien and Port, Rader said the roster would probably remain a man short at 26.

An MRI test on Dick Schofield confirmed the original diagnosis of a strained right hamstring. Schofield will continue therapy and will go on the trip.