Indians’ Candiotti and Jones Combine to Kill Angels Softly

It was a soft but deft one-two punch that the Cleveland Indians used to knock out the Angels Wednesday.

Tom Candiotti and his knuckleball took care of the Angels for seven innings. Then Doug Jones, the stopper who stops with a changeup instead of a fastball, pitched the final two to earn his major-league leading 17th save in the Indians’ 4-2 victory over the Angels at Anaheim Stadium.

It wasn’t hard stuff they threw at the Angels, but it was lethal.

“You can’t sit on (the knuckleball) and drive it for an extra-base hit,” said Dante Bichette, who started in left for the Angels and had two singles in three at-bats against Candiotti. “You can hit it, you just can’t drive it. You can time a jet if you know it’s coming. A knuckler, you don’t know where it’s going.”

Bichette, however, could drive a ball off Jones, and he did in the ninth inning, leading off with his sixth home run.

Jones, who has 17 saves in 18 opportunities and is well on his way to becoming the eighth pitcher to save more than 30 games three seasons in a row, made it more interesting than it had to be, giving up the homer and allowing the tying run to reach base before getting Devon White to hit into a game-ending double play.

“I didn’t watch,” said Candiotti afterward, laughing. “I was in ice. I was listening . . . I come out and it’s 4-2 and I said, ‘That’s just Jonesy, getting himself in trouble to pitch his way out.’ ”

Candiotti, who recently returned to action after spending 15 days on the disabled list because of an inflamed right elbow, allowed eight hits and one earned run, walking three and striking out one. He improved his record to 5-2.

“This was one of the better games I’ve had,” Candiotti said. “I’ve been getting stronger every outing.”

Candiotti benefited from three double plays, one of them beginning with Chili Davis’ grounder to first in the fifth inning.

“It was a big one,” Candiotti said. “(The pitch) dove late, and he grounded to first and (Brook) Jacoby made the double play.”

Candiotti was pleased to have an early lead against Mark Langston.

“It was real big for us, getting ahead early like that,” he said. “It helps me stay more aggressive on the mound.”

Candiotti didn’t rely just on the knuckleball Wednesday, throwing it “probably 50%” of the time, he said.

“I threw a lot of curveballs tonight,” he said. “Plus a fastball, about 82 miles an hour, a little bit of a cut one. I try to get myself in the situation to throw the knuckleball.”

That left the Angels in a bad situation--trying to hit it.

Pitches that are hard to hit, quite logically, also can be quite tough to catch.

Rookie Sandy Alomar Jr., the Indians’ regular catcher, knows that full well. He caught Candiotti’s pitches in a loss to the Angels last Tuesday in Cleveland.

More precisely, he caught most of Candiotti’s pitches. He was charged with two passed balls in that game.

“It’s like trying to catch a butterfly,” said Alomar, shaking his head before Wednesday’s game. Alomar sat out, leaving the catching to Joel Skinner, who caught knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro.