Howell’s Homer Wins It : Baseball: Fetters gets his first major league victory as Angels beat Brewers, 4-3, in 11.

After all the time Jack howell spent in the batting cage, the hours of listening to hitting instructor Deron Johnson and experimenting with different stances under the eyes of Johnson and teammate Dave Winfield, hitting the home run that gave the Angels their second consecutive extra-inning victory Saturday brought extra satisfaction.

Howell’s opposite-field home run with two out in the 11th inning lifted the Angels to a 4-3 victory in Milwaukee’s County Stadium and boosted his confidence beyond what a .223 batting average would suggest. His diligence and willingness to take advantage of teammate Dave Winfield as a resource paid in a two-for-four performance that included Howell’s first home run since June 21 and gave reliever Mike Fetters his first major league victory.

“When you’re hitting below .200 and things aren’t successful, you abandon a lot of things,” said Howell, who hit a pitch from Randy Veres (0-1) into the left-field bullpen. “Not only DJ (hitting instructor Deron Johnson), but (equally) as important is Dave Winfield. Since Cleveland, when I sat out three games, I’ve been hitting with DJ and going over a bunch of different philosophies. One thing we talked about was hitting the outside pitch and going with it.

“In my previous at-bat (a fly to the left-field warning track in the ninth inning), I thought I hit the ball fairly well. He was throwing me everything away, so I was looking for a pitch away and that’s what he threw. As far as Winfield, the thing that’s been the big key isn’t mechanics but what pitchers are going to do. He told me I can hit the ball the other way, but it’s been other things, too. Winfield hasn’t stepped on any toes.”

Winfield, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the 11th inning, downplayed his role in Howell’s success. “We just talk some baseball,” he said. “DJ’s worked with him and I just talk to him like I talk to all my teammates.”

The Angels, who are 4-5 on this trip with one game left, were able to talk about a sweep in Milwaukee because Fetters pitched two solid innings after starter Chuck Finley’s nine-inning effort. Finley struck out a season-high 10 batters but was unable to hold a 3-0 lead the Angels had provided him after four innings.

“I did what I can do. I’m not disappointed with anything,” said Finley, a 27-year-old left-hander whose record remained at 11-4 with a 2.54 earned-run average and 84 strikeouts in 117 innings.

“It was just one of those nights were they weren’t hitting it real hard. There were lots of rollers. . . . I felt like I did what I needed to do, and it was great to see Mike get his first big league win. I remember my first one, in 1986.”

Finley seemed likely to collect his 12th victory after the Angels provided him a run in the first inning and two more in the fourth.

Luis Polonia led off the game with a triple into the right-field corner, and he scored on Max Venable’s sacrifice fly to center. The lead grew to 3-0 in the fourth inning when second baseman Johnny Ray, who entered the game with 11 hits in his previous 22 at-bats, got his first of two hits Saturday with a single to right field with one out. Lance Parrish followed that by smashing a 2-and-1 pitch into the left-field seats for his 16th home run of the season.

Milwaukee cut that lead to 3-2 in the fifth inning, stirring first when Rob Deer led off with a 425-foot blast into the left-field seats. “He just crunched it,” Finley said. “He got it up and out. I challenged him and he hit it. But it don’t matter how far it went, it’s still only one run.”

But the Brewers scored another in that inning when Jim Gantner singled to center, stole second and scored when Gary Sheffield hit a liner to left that hopped over the glove of Polonia for a triple. Finley ended the inning by inducing Robin Yount to pop to second.

Pete O’Brien, the eighth hitter in the Brewers’ lineup, started the seventh-inning rally that tied the game, 3-3. He singled to left, moved to second on a well-executed sacrifice by Bill Spiers and, after Gantner struck out, scored on Sheffield’s double to left.

The Brewers put a runner in scoring position in the 10th inning when Deer reached on an infield single and moved up on O’Brien’s sacrifice, but Fetters was able to bear down and retire Spiers on a fly to left and Gantner on a grounder to the right side.

A 10th-inning Brewer threat was thwarted when Dave Parker was stranded on second base after a double.

“After being swept in Toronto, coming here and winning the first two is really big,” said Fetters, who was promoted from triple-A Edmonton on May 18 after Finley had sprained his left ankle and had to miss a start in Toronto.

“I was looking forward to getting in tonight--well, I was looking forward to Chuck getting a nine-inning victory, but I’m glad I could get my first one.”

Howell has taken heart from the Angels’ 16-inning victory Friday and the comparatively brief win Saturday, which leaves them 5-4 in extra-inning games.

“It would definitely be nice to sweep this series right before the (All-Star) break,” he said. “It would give us a really good feeling going into those two days off.”