Yankees Solve Langston, 5-2 : Baseball: After beating New York last Sunday, Angel pitcher gives up more runs than in any of his five starts this season.

The supposed comforts of home weren’t very comforting to the Angels Friday.

Back in the friendly confines of Anaheim Stadium after a two-week, 13-game trek across North America, the Angels did little to reward the 36,703 fans who welcomed their return. Mark Langston was tagged by the New York Yankees for five runs, the most he has allowed in any of his five starts this season, and the Angels’ offense barely stirred in his support, resulting in the Yankees’ 5-2 victory.

The key hit against Langston (2-2) was a three-run home run to right-center in the sixth by Jesse Barfield, his fourth homer of the season. Langston, who was a 4-3 winner over the Yankees last Sunday in New York, hit one batter, walked four and struck out five as the Yankees ended a five-game losing streak.

Yankee left-hander Dave LaPoint (2-2) went the minimum five innings to get the victory. He gave up only three hits, as the Angels managed only five overall. They are 3-6 in their last nine games and 5-11 in their last 16.

The Angels entered the game with a team batting average of .236, tied for 13th in the American League, and they did nothing to improve it against Yankee pitchers LaPoint, Alan Mills, Lee Guetterman and Dave Righetti.

Luis Polonia’s triple and Devon White’s sacrifice fly created the first run, which was the Angels’ only run until Chili Davis walked against Righetti and Dante Bichette doubled him home. That extended Bichette’s hitting streak to 10 games. It also set a club record as the 22nd consecutive game in which the Angels have had at least one double. The previous record of 21 was set in 1971.

The Yankees opened their scoring in the third inning. Steve Sax walked with one out and stole second as Roberto Kelly struck out swinging. Don Mattingly, one of the few left-handed hitters to own a solid career batting average against Langston (.289 before this season), scored Sax with a single to center, winning the $35.5-million matchup (Langston’s $16-million, five-year contract combined with Mattingly’s $19.3-million, five-year pact).

Before Langston’s start against the Yankees Friday, left-handed hitters were only two for 17 against Langston this season.

LaPoint, who lasted only two innings against the Angels last Sunday, retired 10 consecutive hitters after Polonia. Wally Joyner ended that streak in the fourth with a one-out walk. Davis followed with a single and after Dante Bichette flied out to center, the Angels loaded the bases when third baseman Mike Blowers could not field Lance Parrish’s dribbler up the line. The error was Blowers’ fifth in two games, but LaPoint got out of the inning by getting a third strike past Jack Howell.

Angel hitters are one for 10 in bases-loaded situations this season.

The failure to produce a run in that situation proved important when the Yankees managed to a run in the fifth. Blowers led off with a walk and stole second. Challenging the six-assist arm of Bichette in right field, Blowers tagged on Alvaro Espinoza’s fly ball to right and made it easily when Bichette’s throw was off-line. Blowers had to hold when Sax grounded out, but he scored when Kelly rapped a single to right.

The Yankees got to Langston for three runs in the sixth, and their total of five earned runs was the most Langston had allowed this season. Langston struck out Mattingly but hit Steve Balboni on the hand and yielded a sharp single to Winfield before Jesse Barfield hit a 1-2 pitch to right-center for his fourth home run of the season. Langston ended the inning by striking out Blowers, his third victim, but the damage had been done.

Alan Mills, once the Angels’ property, relieved LaPoint in the sixth.

Angel Notes

Reggie Jackson, now a TV commentator on KTLA, gave Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield a hard time while the Yankees were doing their pregame stretching. “So you’re a part-timer now,” Jackson began, as Winfield, who missed the 1989 season after undergoing back surgery, did his calisthenics. “You know what happens when they make you the DH. That’s how they ran me out of baseball. . . . Don’t leave anything on the warning track tonight because you know what people are going to say. They’re going to say, ‘Years ago, that would have gone out.’ ” The other Yankees smiled, giving Jackson more fuel. “The guys that are laughing the hardest are thinking the same thing,” Jackson said. “Oh, and you know I need you for an interview?”

Jackson’s jesting may have inspired Winfield. He ended a career-worst 0-for-23 streak in the fourth, with a single to right-center.

To the delight of Angel newcomer Luis Polonia, Donnie Hill gave Polonia uniform number 22--which means Polonia can keep the ornate gold “22” charm he wears around his neck instead of selling it to Hill. “I figured I’d have to change my whole wardrobe if he gave it to me,” said Hill, who took 18.

Polonia was even more delighted to be in the starting lineup Friday against a left-hander. He showed his gratitude by leading off the game with a triple, the Angels’ first triple of the season.

“It’s great. That’s telling me I don’t have to think about whether I’m playing or not,” he said. “That was the tough thing for me--I’d be home and then come to the game and see I’m not in the lineup. Now I don’t have to think about it or read the paper to see who’s pitching. I’m going to be there and I’m going to do my job day by day.”

Mark Langston and his wife, Michelle, will provide the voices for two characters in an animated action-adventure TV series, “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” Langston will be the voice of “The Nuclear Computer,” while his wife will be the voice of a TV anchor on a segment entitled “The Meltdown Syndrome.”