Detroit Stymied by Finley : Baseball: Left-hander gives up only three hits in 8 1/3 innings but doesn’t get the victory as Angels win, 1-0, on Winfield’s triple.

The role of hard-luck Angel strikeout artist, usually played by Mark Langston, was played by Chuck Finley Friday night.

As Langston has been in his recent starts, Finley was overpowering, getting a season-high nine strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers in 8 1/3 innings. The Angels’ offense did what it usually does when Langston pitches: It did little scoring.

Dave Winfield’s triple down the left-field line in the ninth inning scored Wally Joyner, and the Angels won, 1-0, at Anaheim Stadium. But the run came too late for Finley to get credit for the victory.

The 27-year-old left-hander, who defused Detroit scoring threats in the sixth and seventh, had been relieved in the ninth by Scott Bailes (2-0).

“My plan was to get the first guys out, then have (the Angels) score 12, 15 runs for me . . . I go to the fifth and fly, get set for the weekend,” said Finley, who lowered his earned-run average to 2.36, third-best in the American League. “My feeling was that as long as I get deep enough into the game and give us a chance to win, then I feel like I’ve done my job.”

If his job was made especially difficult by the Angels’ inability to get more than four hits in seven innings off starter Brian DuBois, it only provided him with an education.

“Oh yeah, I understand what Mark feels,” Finley said of Langston, who has gotten a single run of support in each of his last three starts. “(DuBois) was doing a good job. He probably is in the same position I was a year or two ago. . . . He matched me pitch for pitch.”

Winfield agreed. “He perplexed us,” said Winfield, who had been hitless in three at-bats against the 23-year-old left-hander. “He wasn’t overpowering, but he has a good curveball and he threw strikes. He pitched a good game, but so did Finley. You don’t want to waste good pitching performances like that. We’ve come up short so many times for Mark Langston. I’m glad one run was enough tonight.”

That run was enough to lift them three games above .500 for the first time since April 15, when they were 5-2, and within 8 1/2 games of the Oakland A’s. “We’re creeping up,” Finley said. “Watch out.”

Joyner led off the ninth against Paul Gibson (2-2) by walking on four pitches. As Joyner was at bat, Winfield was thinking ahead.

“I went to (Manager) Doug Rader when Wally had two balls in the count and I asked him, ‘Do you want me to move him over?’ ” Winfield said. “He said, ‘Absolutely not. Just don’t try to do too much with the ball. Just make good contact.’ ”

That he did, lining the ball past third and beyond the reach of left fielder John Shelby.

“When you tell someone something or give him advice, and when that player comes through and does more, it approaches a manager’s dream,” Rader said of Winfield’s hit. “You can’t ask for more. It’s a very fulfilling experience for somebody to be able to incorporate what you ask, not only to get a base hit that wins the ballgame . . .

“For him to do the job properly, he’d have to try not to do too much with the pitch. Whatever the nature of the pitch, whatever the pitch allowed. Just don’t try to do too much. He got a breaking ball on the inside half (of the plate) and he got a nice, smooth swing on it. The great situation of it all is that at worst, there would have been a runner at third with one out.”

Finley, whose five consecutive strikeouts in the first and second innings matched an Angel feat performed previously this season only by Jim Abbott, had runners on first and third in the sixth after he walked Lou Whitaker on four pitches and threw away John Shelby’s sacrifice bunt. But he got out of that when Alan Trammell popped out and--after Cecil Fielder was intentionally walked--Darnell Coles and Jim Lindeman struck out. A single by Lloyd Moseby and a throwing error by third baseman Rick Schu put runners on first and third with no one out in the seventh, but again, Finley escaped. Ed Romero popped up, Moseby was tagged out on Whitaker’s fielder’s-choice grounder, and Shelby popped up to catcher Lance Parrish.

Angel Notes

Dante Bichette started in left field for the Angels and hit eighth. For Bichette, who is hitless in his last 18 at-bats, that was his lowest position in the order this season. . . . Devon White, who batted seventh Friday, has hit in six spots in the starting lineup. He hasn’t started as the cleanup, fifth or eighth hitter. . . . Catcher Bill Schroeder went to Palm Springs to finish his rehabilitation assignment.