Orioles Cross Up the Book : Angels: Anderson hits away instead of bunting, giving Baltimore a 2-1 victory in 12 innings.

The situation screamed for a bunt.

The Baltimore Orioles, hard-pressed to do anything against Kirk McCaskill and Mike Witt, put runners on first and second with none out in the bottom of the 12th inning Monday. Brady Anderson, a left-handed hitter, batted for Sam Horn, also a lefty. Angel first baseman Wally Joyner crept in, expecting the logical play.

“There’s a reason they pinch-hit Brady Anderson,” Joyner said. “I’m in a little bit looking for a bunt, and he hits a high hopper off my glove. Was it catchable (if he were at normal depth)? Oh, yeah. I’m sure he had one practice swing and if he missed it, he was going to bunt.”

Anderson didn’t miss the first-pitch fastball from Witt, lining it off Joyner’s glove and into right field to give the Orioles a 2-1 victory over the frustrated and rueful Angels.

“It fooled everybody,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “With them pinch-hitting for Sam, I figured he was coming up there bunting all the way. But he didn’t. Ninety-nine times out of 100, you expect a bunt in that situation. You want to get somebody to third with less than two outs. I guess Frank (Robinson, Baltimore’s manager) had something else up his sleeve.

“It was a bunt situation, real late in the game, nobody out. I’m sure most people would be thinking bunt.”

The Angels were thinking about the many times they came close to making plays that might have enabled them to win.

There was Joyner, moving in for a bunt that never happened.

Starter McCaskill, whose 8 1/3-inning, eight-strikeout outing was easily his best of the season, couldn’t savor his performance because his stab at Horn’s seventh-inning shot was unsuccessful, the ball going up the middle and scoring Craig Worthington from second base with the tying run.

“I should have had it. I just didn’t see it that well off his bat,” said McCaskill. “It’s kind of dark between home plate and the mound and it came back so fast. It was a little harder hit than I thought. It was pretty much right under my glove.

“Don’t say should have--could have.”

The same applies to the long fly ball Parrish hit in the eighth. It could have gone over the fence and given the Angels a 3-1 lead, but center fielder Steve Finley leaped and reached behind the fence to catch the ball. “It was high enough that I could get back to the wall and time my jump,” Finley said. “I didn’t think it was going to go so far.”

Those “could haves” added up to a loss for the Angels, their fourth in five games, seventh in 10 on this trip and ninth in their last 12 games. It was a difficult night all around, but for no one more than Manager Doug Rader, who announced after the game that reliever Willie Fraser had been optioned to triple-A Edmonton to reduce the roster to 25.

Fraser, who was 0-1 with an 11.81 earned-run average in 5 1/3 innings this season, will become a starter to get the remedial work he needs in Edmonton.

“You figure it goes over the fence, it should be a home run,” Parrish said of his eighth-inning fly ball. “I was trying to talk it out, but it didn’t make it. I’ve seen guys make catches like that on highlight films, and you hate to see it happen to you. . . .

“We had opportunities to win this. We hit some balls good and got ourselves in position to get runs across. But they made good plays or we hit them right at people.”

Witt pitched 2 2/3 perfect innings before the 12th, taking his third loss in as many decisions, small consolation. “I was surprised (by the decision not to bunt),” he said. “I would think they’d try to get a runner and bunt him over so they’d have a guy on third. It was a freaky game, a freaky play.”

The Angels scored their run in the third inning off starter Bob Milacki. Kent Anderson lined a double between third baseman Worthington and the bag, moved to third on Max Venable’s sacrifice back to Milacki and scored on Joyner’s sacrifice fly.

McCaskill was relieved by Witt after issuing a one-out walk to Joe Orsulak in the ninth.

“This was my best game, in all ways,” McCaskill said, “except we didn’t win.”

Angel Notes

Brian Downing, squeezed out of the lineup by Sunday’s acquisition of Luis Polonia from the New York Yankees, may be near the end of his Angel career.

“If I would have known this during the offseason, I would have retired,” said the 40-year-old designated hitter, who is hitting .186 in 12 games. “I’ll just stand here and wait for the ax to fall, pure and simple. . . . I think the best thing for me is not to overreact and kind of hang loose for a while and see what happens.”

Wednesday’s series finale is back to its original 4:30 p.m. (PDT) starting time. The Orioles had agreed to start an hour earlier to give the Angels a head start on making a red-eye flight to Seattle for Thursday’s makeup game, but ESPN wouldn’t permit the time change because the game is the backup to its national telecast.

Pitcher Mark Langston had an interesting breakfast appointment today: He was invited to the White House to meet President Bush and participate in “The Great American Workout,” an event designed to promote physical fitness. “I’m really excited,” said Langston, who was invited by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It should be fun.”

Second baseman Johnny Ray received a cortisone injection in his right shoulder to ease his bursitis. He was not available to play Monday but is expected to be available today. X-rays on catcher John Orton’s shoulder were negative but Orton, who injured his left shoulder while sliding into home Sunday, didn’t play Monday. “I could catch, but I can’t hit,” he said.

X-rays of reliever Bryan Harvey’s swollen right hand were normal, leaving the swelling and cramping between his fourth and fifth metacarpals unexplained. He is free to pitch as long as he’s not in pain. . . . Reliever Bob McClure, still disabled by a sore left elbow, did 15 minutes of soft throwing Monday and is waiting to see how his arm feels today before continuing his workouts. . . . Kent Anderson has bicep tendinitis but is able to play.

Polonia, acquired Sunday from the New York Yankees in exchange for Claudell Washington and Rich Monteleone, is expected to join the Angels today. Manager Doug Rader said Polonia will start, but Rader is not yet sure whether Polonia will play left field or be the designated hitter.

Trainer Ned Bergert for the first time established a timetable for the return of shortstop Dick Schofield, who has been on the disabled list since April 1 because of a strained right hamstring. He said Schofield might be ready to play in two weeks, but cautioned that his estimate wasn’t “etched in stone.”