Langston Hears Anaheim Chorus : Angels: Fans’ patience runs thin after he gives up six runs in 2 2/3 innings in 8-1 loss to Indians. Winless streak reaches seven weeks.

Mark Langston lost again Sunday, and this time he lost sympathy as well as the game.

Close scores have dogged Langston during his search for a fifth victory, now in its seventh week. In his last two starts before Sunday, he lost despite pitching complete games, yielding two runs in one, three in the other. Each time, he got only one run from his teammates.

He didn’t let them thwart him again.

This time he did himself in, lasting only 2 2/3 innings in the Angels’ 8-1 loss to Cleveland. He was charged with six runs, the final two scoring on Joel Skinner’s three-run homer off relief pitcher Willie Fraser.

“I have always believed in (Langston) and supported him, and I will continue to believe in and support him,” Manager Doug Rader said. “I don’t think there’s any question he will turn it around.”

Langston has lost seven consecutive decisions, falling to 4-12. He has not won since June 5.

The Indians scored twice in the first inning on Candy Maldonado’s single to center field. After a single to Chris James put runners at first and third, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann made his first visit to the mound, only five batters into the game.

“(Langston) just had a rough outing,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “Everybody has them. It came at an unfortunate time for him because I know he’s trying to turn things around.”

Lachemann came back in the second inning, during which Langston gave up another run on Jerry Browne’s single.

By Lachemann’s third trip, Langston had given up four runs and 10 hits.

Langston left the mound amid booing from some in the crowd of 32,129 in Anaheim Stadium.

It was his shortest outing since June 15, 1988, when he was with Seattle and lasted only two innings against Milwaukee.

“I think everybody was too hard on him,” Parrish said. “I think he has pitched well for us for a while. We just hadn’t been able to get the win. All of a sudden, he has a bad game, and people react like he’s been this way all along.”

Langston, whose earned-run average rose from 3.57 to 3.89, already had left the stadium before postgame interviews.

“I’m sure he’s frustrated at this point. It’s very understandable,” Parrish said. “Mark Langston has been for some time one of the best pitchers in the American League. This is probably very hard for him, especially since he’s on a new ballclub and trying to make a good impression.”

Langston was acquired in the off-season, signing a $16-million contract for five years.

Rader, Lachemann and Parrish agreed that Langston struggled with his location Sunday.

“He wasn’t throwing bad, velocity-wise,” Parrish said. “His location was a little off. He wasn’t able to get his breaking stuff over to make the fastball effective. Just a bad day for him.”

One irony of Langston’s outing was that pitching poorly might not have made a difference.

The Angels had scored only 15 runs in his 11 previous losses, only nine by his departure.

They scored only one Sunday, fulfilling what has come to seem the Angels’ quota with Langston on the mound. In seven of his past nine starts, the Angels have scored no more than one run, losing four times by 2-1 scores and once by 3-1.

“The game might have been a little different if he held them to two,” Parrish said. “We might have been able to put something together, you never know. It was just unfortunate how it worked out.”

Langston has not won a game in his past seven decisions over nine starts.

His opponent Sunday, Greg Swindell, allowed a run in the first inning when Luis Polonia scored on Dave Winfield’s sacrifice fly.

Swindell retired 14 batters in a row, beginning with Lee Stevens on a double-play grounder in the first inning and ending with Polonia’s single with one out in the sixth inning.

Swindell (6-5) left after allowing six hits in eight innings, giving way to relief ace Doug Jones, who had not pitched in four days and needed the work.

The loss dropped the Angels to 12 1/2 games behind Oakland in the American League West as they head into a four-game series at Oakland beginning tonight. It is series that once was expected to bear heavily on the pennant race, but now is important mostly to the Angels.

“I think this whole road trip and the next home stand is vitally important,” Rader said. “I think it’s our whole season.”

The Angels will play 10 road games against divisional rivals Oakland, Seattle and Minnesota before returning home to face Oakland, Boston, Baltimore and New York.

“If things don’t go well during this next road trip and home stand, it’s going to be very disappointing for us,” Rader said. “It’s vitally important for us to get something going right now.”

And the same for Langston.

“He’s got to keep grinding,” Lachemann said. “Not just him--us as a ballclub.”

Angel Notes

Shortstop Dick Schofield was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning, leaving the game with a strained right shoulder. His status was reported as day to day. Schofield said arm soreness had been bothering him for a few days and described it as normal during the course of any season. He will continue taking oral anti-inflammatory medication, he said. . . . Update in the great lineup debate: Sunday’s lineup was identical to the one used Friday, when the Angels defeated Cleveland, 9-4, in the opening game of this series. It marked only the second time this season Manager Doug Rader has duplicated a lineup. Rader has used different lineups in response to the team’s numerous injuries and in an attempt to handle various other situations, particularly involving the once-overcrowded outfield. The other times Rader used identical lineups were April 11 and 14. That lineup is one that will not be repeated; it included Claudell Washington, since traded to the Yankees.

ANGEL ATTENDANCE Sunday: 32,129

1990 (49 dates): 1,580,444

1989 (49 dates): 1,547,594

Increase: 32,850

1990 average: 32,254