Angels Scratch One Out : Baseball: McCaskill, making only his second start in 19 days, pitches well and Polonia’s hustle sets up the winning run.

The Angels are making their climb back to .500, and it is taking all kinds of effort.

Against the Cleveland Indians Tuesday, they made their way on the pitching of Kirk McCaskill, even though he was making only his second start in 19 days after missing one turn because of a tender elbow and another because of his newborn baby’s illness.

They held out for a 2-1 victory over Cleveland at Anaheim Stadium with the help of a bunt single by Luis Polonia in the fifth inning that decided the ballgame.

Because Polonia moved Rick Schu to third and reached first before third baseman Brook Jacoby’s throw, the double play that followed meant the winning run and not the end of the inning.

McCaskill (3-2) got the Angels to the seventh, and Mark Eichhorn wrapped it up, pitching the final 2 1/3 innings with ease for his ninth save before 22,429 at Anaheim Stadium.

With Oakland’s loss, the Angels remained in fourth place, 8 1/2 games behind. And at 23-24, they find themselves one victory away from returning to .500.

“There’s that old adage that you’ve got to win these kind of games,” Manager Doug Rader said. “Well, you’ve got to win as many as you can--the description doesn’t matter.

McCaskill gave up only one run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings to earn the victory.

Cleveland’s John Farrell (3-2) took the loss, giving up two runs on seven hits in seven innings.

The Angels and the Indians had faced off for nine shutout innings Monday behind the pitching performances of Jim Abbott and Bud Black.

Abbott gave up two hits through nine innings, but ended up with the loss when he gave up three runs in the 10th for a 3-0 Cleveland victory. Black’s eight shutout innings left him with nothing but a no-decision.

Through 3 1/2 innings Tuesday, neither team had scored. Together, the teams had played 12 scoreless innings in 13 1/2 in two days.

But McCaskill drew a better fate than Abbott.

Cleveland’s Farrell opened the fourth inning by walking Wally Joyner, who has been on a tear of late, striking out only five times in his previous 72 at-bats. Joyner went to third on Chili Davis’ single to right, bringing up Dave Winfield with no outs.

Winfield grounded into a double play, but Joyner scored on the play, giving the Angels a 1-0 lead.

That was something Abbott never enjoyed the day before.

The Angels made the score 2-0 in the fifth, thanks in part to Polonia’s hustle.

After Schu led off with a double to right, Polonia bunted down the third-base line. Schu took third on the play and Polonia beat third baseman Brook Jacoby’s throw to first.

Instead of a man on third with one out, the Angels had runners on first and third with no outs.

And instead of stranding Schu with an inning-ending double play, the Angels added a run on Donnie Hill’s grounder to second. The Indians got Polonia and Hill on the play, but were helpless to stop Schu from scoring.

McCaskill’s margin of comfort eroded quickly in the seventh after he gave up a one-out triple to Sandy Alomar Jr.

Right fielder Dave Winfield was unable to run down Alomar’s hit on one bounce, and had to chase it toward the bullpen. Cory Snyder delivered a single to score Alomar. The Angels couldn’t get Snyder at second on Jacoby’s grounder to third, but were able to turn and get Jacoby at first.

McCaskill had thrown 93 pitches. With two outs and a runner on second--and perhaps with the memory of what happened to Abbott Monday--Rader brought on Eichhorn, who entered tha game with a 1.56 earned-run average and eight of the Angels’ 13 saves.

“McCaskill was to the point where he had done his job,” Rader said. “With the nature of the hitters he was going to have to face--primarily fastball hitters--we wanted to go with Eichhorn.”

The Indians sent up Carlos Baerga to pinch-hit for shortstop Felix Fermin, but Eichhorn struck him out, ending the inning with Snyder at second.

Eichhorn faced three batters in the eighth, giving up a one-out single to Mitch Webster but getting Dion James to hit into a double play, ending the inning.

He struck out Candy Maldonado to open the ninth, got Chris James on a lightly hit ball to third, and then ended the game by striking out Alomar.

Angel Notes

Shortstop Dick Schofield, who practiced sliding Tuesday the first time this season, will report to Edmonton today for a rehabilitation assignment, he said. Schofield said he expects to be with the Angels’ triple-A team for about a week. “I’ll probably play five innings for a couple of days and try to work nine innings the last three days,” said Schofield, who has yet to play this season because of a strained hamstring. Schofield said his recovery period has been “too long,” and that he hopes to be ready to start when he returns even though he “might not be 100%.”

With Schofield out, the Angels have used four different shortstops this season, committing 12 errors at the position, compared to 18 all last season. . . . Cleveland placed Keith Hernandez (strained left calf) on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Sunday. He is five for 33 (.152) since May 9. . . . Bert Blyleven, who presided over the first clubhouse court session of the season, reported that an Angel received a record fine of $50, but would not elaborate. Dante Bichette pleaded not guilty to a charge of missing a cutoff man. “My defense was that I said my cutoff man was myself, and I threw it in the dirt,” Bichette said. Although convicted of the charge, Bichette said he got off easy. “(Blyleven) usually doubles the charge if you plead not guilty,” he said.