Langston Gets in Trouble When He Can’t Get 3rd Out

Mark Langston insists that he takes matters game by game and doesn’t look at the overall picture of his pitching, but it’s difficult to overlook the pattern he has developed this season.

Not to mention the obvious pattern of loss after loss after loss.

Of the 46 runs scored against Langston in his first 15 starts, 20 were scored with two out. His 16th start conformed to the pattern: Langston yielded a pair of two-out runs to the Indians in the first inning Sunday to set the tone for the Angels’ 5-3 loss, Langston’s fourth consecutive defeat and sixth in his last nine starts.

Statistics can be manipulated to prove almost any point, but Langston (4-9) acknowledged a connection between his two-out largesse and his losses. As a measure of comparison, Chuck Finley (10-4) has allowed only eight two-out runs among the 30 scored against him.

“Obviously, it means something,” said Langston, who has one victory and two no-decisions in his nine starts since May 20. “You’ve got to be able to nip (a scoring threat) as quick as possible, especially early in the game.”

The Angels, who gave Langston only two runs in his previous three starts, gave him that many by the fourth inning on run-scoring singles by Devon White and Brian Downing off Greg Swindell (3-5).

To Langston, who walked five and matched a season-low with three strikeouts, it was “very unfortunate” that he couldn’t capitalize on this veritable outburst.

“I got the team in a hole early,” Langston said after the Angels lost for the sixth time in their past eight games and fell below .500 for the first time since June 16. “Today I just pitched terrible. I was behind all day and I didn’t have my real good fastball. My breaking ball was very poor. I have to work ahead, and today I didn’t do it . . .

“I feel physically fine. I feel mechanically fine. The difference is making the pitches. Today, I didn’t make any good pitches. I felt good but when I had to make good pitches, I didn’t make them. My job is to keep the game as close as possible and give the team a shot. I didn’t do my job today.”

Angel Manager Doug Rader considers two-out runs “generally a barometer as to how a ballclub is going. When you’re scoring them you win, and when you don’t, things go like they are for us now.”

He’s aware of Langston’s penchant for allowing two-out runs but can’t explain it.

“I don’t think it’s concentration,” Rader said. “I know he’s trying as hard with two outs as with one out. The only thing with Mark is that with the complexity of his delivery, he sometimes gets his pitches up. Invariably, those are the ones that hurt you.”

That was the case in Cleveland’s three-run sixth, which Langston didn’t finish. Walks also hurt him, especially a four-pitch walk to .260 hitter Tom Brookens in the first and a five-pitch pass to Brookens in the sixth.

“That’s the guy that killed him,” Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “Brookens never swung the bat and he scored two runs.”

Brookens--batting .371 against Langston--had drawn only four walks in 27 games before walking in the first inning Sunday. Candy Maldonado moved him along with a single to center, and Chris James scored him with a single to center. Brook Jacoby later drove in James with a single to left.

“Any time you can get some two-out hits and runs off Langston you’re doing a job right there,” James said. “He’s by far the best left-handed pitcher in baseball and because he’s been so successful, you get a little extra adrenaline flowing when you face him.”

Langston rued falling behind to James and rued the pitch he made to Jacoby.

“He stayed on that changeup pretty well,” Langston said. “He got it in there for a pretty big hit.”

Swindell struck out the first four Angels but gave up a run in the second on a walk to Dave Winfield and singles by Downing and White.

The Angels made the score 2-2 in the fourth on Wally Joyner’s ground-rule double, Winfield’s bad-hop infield single and a single by Downing, but Swindell--who hadn’t won since April 29--maintained his composure.

“We scored more runs, I threw strikes and I didn’t get in trouble,” was his analysis of his first victory after eight no-decisions and three losses in his previous 11 starts.

Langston got in trouble in the sixth when he walked Brookens. Maldonado’s double into the gap in right-center field sent Brookens to third and James drove both in with a double down the right field line.

“I was just trying to hit the ball to the right side and get the runner over,” James said. “We’re a singles, doubles team, not a home-run team, so we have to manufacture runs however we can. When you get a couple of key two-out hits and runs, that gives you confidence.”

Rader remains confident that Langston and the Angels’ offense will someday be in sync.

“It wasn’t like we were stuck in the mud like we’ve been when he pitches,” Rader said. “We had some things that could have blossomed. In his previous starts we really didn’t come close to scoring. This game we had some chances. (Swindell) did a great job. He got the ball over the plate when he had to and got key outs when he had to.”

Even with two out.

Angel Notes

The Angels scored a run in the ninth inning on a pair of singles by Chili Davis and Dave Winfield and wild pitch by Doug Jones. But with runners on second and third, Jones struck out Devon White and pinch-hitter Jack Howell to end the game.. . . Davis’ ninth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 11 games, matching the longest by an Angel this season. Dante Bichette also hit in 11 consecutive games from April 25 through May 5. . . . Brian Downing’s three-hit game, his second this season, raised his average to .248, the highest it has been since the first week of the season. He’s 12 for 31 (.387) in his last eight starts.

Lance Parrish led the Angels in hitting during June with a .326 average (30 for 92), seven home runs and 17 runs batted in. Luis Polonia was close behind at .322 (19 for 59). Also hot was Davis, who hit .275 (25 for 91) with six home runs and 15 RBIs. . . . June swoons: Bichette--.132 (seven for 53), Howell--.122 (six for 49), Wally Joyner--.234 (22 for 94), John Orton--.158 (three for 19), Donnie Hill--.225 (18 for 80).