Angels Soften Up Twins With Hard Running, 5-2

Hard baserunning by shortstop Kent Anderson got the offense going, and solid pitching by starter Chuck Finley and reliever Mark Eichhorn slowed the Minnesota Twins, enabling the Angels to pick up a 5-2 victory Sunday.

In the first two games of this three-game series, Minnesota outscored the Angels, 21-1.

In the fifth inning Sunday, with the Twins leading, 2-0, Max Venable and Anderson scored on Brian Downing’s single to left to tie the score, 2-2.

It appeared left fielder Dan Gladden’s throw to the plate would nail Anderson, but Anderson never hesitated as he rounded third and headed home, barreling into catcher Brian Harper as he juggled the throw.

“I looked and I thought Moose (Stubing, the third base coach) was waving me in,” Anderson said. “I heard him say, ‘You’ve got to go hard.’ ”

Manager Doug Rader said, “The play at the plate turned the game around. I can’t say enough about a guy like (Anderson). He comes in and changes the mind-set of the ballclub.”

After the game, which snapped a four-game losing streak, Rader received a congratulatory post-game phone call from team owner Gene Autry.

Finley (3-0) settled down after a difficult third inning and held Minnesota to two runs over 6 1/3 innings, the first earned runs charged against him in three starts.

Eichhorn relieved Finley in the seventh inning with runners on first and second and got Randy Bush to ground into an inning-ending double play. Eichhorn went 2 2/3 innings, allowed only one hit and struck out two in getting his third save in as many opportunities.

“I would have been happy getting out in the seventh because the double play kept the win for Finley, but they let me go longer,” Eichhorn said. “Every game is big, but this was a little bigger because we had the losing streak. Chuck threw the ball well and kept us in the ballgame until we got a chance to win it.”

Besides the two pitchers and Anderson, second baseman Donnie Hill, Venable and designated hitter Downing did their parts in jarring the Angels out of their doldrums.

“Donnie Hill comes in and puts the ball in play hard and moves the man over in a tough situation (in the ninth),” Rader said. “Venable had a couple of tough walks. Brian Downing comes through with a couple of great at-bats. They all did a great job.”

Anderson, whose two-out double off the center-field wall started the fifth-inning attack against Allan Anderson (1-2), also singled and scored in the ninth.

Hill, in his first start of the season, had two doubles and singled in the seventh to drive in Venable with the go-ahead run, only the second time in 52 innings the Angels had held a lead. Their two-run fifth represented the first time in 38 innings that they had scored more than one run in an inning.

“Impressive,” said Downing, who was thrown out trying to score from second base in the ninth after Chili Davis had driven in Anderson with the fifth run. “The two big two-out hits are of primary importance. That meant getting it tied for Chuck to have a second life. Our pitchers had gotten to feel lately that when we got down a couple of runs, they were just going to put in their innings.

“The big thing is still getting big hits, particularly with two out. You can move runners up all you want, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t score. You’ve got to clean the table off. We need a couple of days of that, even more than we did today.”

Hill saw Sunday’s work as a solid start. “It’s good to show we could get a few hits. The last couple games we weren’t swinging the bats as well as we could,” he said. “We got timely hitting, situation hitting. It was just an exciting game. We did a lot of things well, what we needed to do to win.”

Angel Notes

Chuck Finley liked his chances Sunday, despite the losing streak the Angels took into the game. “It’s more of an advantage to pitch after losing the first two (in the series) because it’s very hard in the major leagues to sweep a team,” said Finley, whose ERA rose to 0.87. “I knew it was only a matter of time before the guys responded.”

Devon White, who rested his bruised left ankle and sprained left thumb Sunday, is expected to be able to play Tuesday. An examination of Bill Schroeder’s sore right elbow in Milwaukee by Dr. Paul Jacobs confirmed that there’s no damage to Schroeder’s elbow beyond that normal for a catcher. Schroeder is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list today. He will rejoin the Angels Tuesday in Boston.

The Angels have hit at least one double in 11 straight games. . . . Kent Anderson’s fifth-inning double ended an 0 for 11 streak. . . . Downing’s fifth-inning single broke a one-for-21 slump. . . . Chili Davis’ ninth-inning single extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Jack Howell caused a stir during batting practice, when a ball he hit off a tee tore through the protective netting and hit a sprinkler, creating a small geyser of water behind home plate. Maintenance workers needed several minutes before they could turn it off. Howell wasn’t worried about the spill. “It’ll get the turf to grow,” he said.