Angels Get Eck of a Win : Baseball: Oakland’s Eckersley surrenders rare walk to Bichette, rarer homer to Hill in 11th inning of 4-2 loss.

It would have been absurd for Donnie Hill, who had 23 home runs in six major league seasons, to think about hitting one off Oakland relief pitcher Dennis Eckersley in the 11th inning Thursday.

Almost as absurd as the thought of drawing a walk from Eckersley, who had allowed opponents only five--one intentional--in his previous 100 innings.

Yet, there was Dante Bichette on first base after coaxing a walk out of the A’s ace. And there was Hill, who knew Eckersley was hitting the corners of the plate, driving a fastball on the inside corner over the right-field fence to give the Angels a 4-2 victory.

“I’m sure a home run was the last thing Dennis was thinking. It was the last thing I was thinking, too,” Hill said. “I wasn’t even trying to pull the ball.”

Hill’s home run enabled the Angels to pull out the last game of the four-game series at the Oakland Coliseum. “One win is better than none,” Hill said after victimizing Eckersley (2-2) for his second home run of the season and first since May 18 off Toronto’s Dave Stieb.

“We played a good first couple of games and we were kind of disappointed after losing them. Then they blew us out. Shoot, it’s good to come out with one.”

Hill’s homer made a winner of Bryan Harvey (3-2), who was unexpectedly sharp in his first appearance since July 14. Harvey entered the game in the 10th inning in relief of Chuck Finley, who struck out nine and gave up two runs--one earned--to lower his earned-run average to 2.38, second in the American League to the 2.33 of Boston’s Roger Clemens.

Harvey, who had been idled by a strained back muscle since last Sunday, walked one and struck out four to earn his first victory since May 24 and end the Angels’ four-game losing streak.

“I was surprised,” Harvey said of his effectiveness against the A’s, who had produced 25 runs and 38 hits in winning the first three games of the series. “I thought I would be all over the place after not pitching for 12 days, but I was throwing strikes.

“I tried to throw after the second game (of this series) and I didn’t feel too good. I threw seven minutes (Wednesday) and I felt good. . . . Our bullpen has been scuffling a little lately, and I told myself, ‘Go out and get a win.’ ”

That he did, with the help of Hill. “I gave up a home run. It can happen, but I don’t want to get used to this,” said Eckersley, who hadn’t yielded a home run this season and seemed startled by the media attention he received for his failure.

“I was more upset about walking Bichette. But I’m not making excuses. Hill hit it out. . . . When it happened, I was a little surprised. He does have some pop, but he never tries to pull the ball. I watched him the whole series and he never pulled the ball. He was just trying to get a hit, I think, and turned and hit it out. Good for him.”

Working with a 1-0 lead given him in the second inning on Lee Stevens’ double and Brian Downing’s triple, Finley gave up a leadoff single to Jamie Quirk in the third. Stevens dropped Jack Howell’s throw on Mike Gallego’s chopper to third base for an error, putting Quirk on second, and Quirk scored on Walt Weiss’ single to left field. Gallego then scored on Dave Henderson’s sacrifice fly.

The Angels pulled even in the fifth inning on Luis Polonia’s triple and Johnny Ray’s sacrifice fly, then protected that lead in the sixth when Ray turned a shortstop-to-second-to-home double play to get Quirk with the potential go-ahead run.

“I had a little bit of everything going today--a little of this, a little of that, a whole lot of nothing,” said Finley, who is still on a pace for 20 victories. “Coming in here and dropping the first game and then the next two days falling apart, we’re glad we have something positive to take out of here.”

Harvey agreed that looking at the positive was essential, given the Angels’ 14 1/2-game deficit in the AL West. “We can’t worry about the standings. All we can worry about is tomorrow’s game,” he said. “We’re just going to play hard and make a good run.”

Angel Notes

Angel broadcaster Joe Torre has begun to believe that managing the St. Louis Cardinals is his fate. Torre flew from Oakland to Denver Wednesday to lend support to a referendum on a new stadium there and was startled to discover that his flight continued from Denver to--of all places--St. Louis. “Anybody who would have seen me on that flight would have thought I’d gotten the job,” said Torre, who has not heard from the Cardinals since his interview last Wednesday. “I’ve been getting a lot of calls from St. Louis, but all from the media. People said the word in the press box is that I’m it, but nobody’s said anything to me.”

Eager to change his luck, pitcher Bert Blyleven shaved his beard Thursday at 4 a.m. “Maybe I’ll scare the hitters more this way.” . . . Willie and Annie Fraser became the parents of 7-pound 15-ounce Cody James at 12:38 a.m. Thursday. The pitcher, who left the club Wednesday, will return today in Seattle.

Shortstop Dick Schofield, who has a strained right rotator cuff, threw Thursday but was out of the starting lineup for the fourth consecutive game. . . . Identical twins Jose and Ozzie Canseco had identical strikeout totals--three--Thursday. “We were awesome,” Jose said. “I’d have beat him but I walked (against Bryan Harvey in the 10th).” . . . Thursday’s crowd of 35,188 gave the A’s a total of 518,534 fans in their 14-game home stand--more than their total home attendance in either 1977 or ’79.