Three Homers Pace Angel Victory

The abnormal is normal when the New York Yankees are involved, and especially this season when the Yankees and Angels are involved.

Luis Polonia, acquired by the Angels from the Yankees on April 29, became the 74th major league player since 1920 to hit an inside-the-park grand slam and only the second in Angel history, but that was still not enough for the Angels to subdue the Yankees. They needed two more home runs, one a three-run shot in the fifth by Chili Davis and the other a two-run drive by Devon White later in the inning, to pull out a 9-5 victory at Anaheim Stadium.

Polonia’s grand insider against his former teammates was the first in the major leagues since June 2, 1989, when Toronto’s Junior Felix hit one at Boston. It was the second inside-the-park home run this season involving the Angels, following the one hit by Boston’s Bill Buckner on April 25 when Claudell Washington fell into the right-field stands at Fenway Park. Four days later, Washington was traded to the Yankees with Rich Monteleone for Polonia.

The Angels’ last inside-the-park grand slam was hit by Rick Reichardt at Kansas City against John Odom on June 25, 1967. Polonia’s grand slam, witnessed by a crowd of 27,937--which put the Angels over the 2 million attendance mark for the ninth consecutive season and 11th in 12--was the 18th inside-the-park homer in Angel history and first since Gary Pettis off Oakland’s Curt Young on April 22, 1987.

Despite allowing 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings, Jim Abbott (8-10) earned the victory. Tim Leary (6-15) was the loser as the Yankees lost their fifth consecutive game.

Dave Winfield, whom the Angels acquired in a deal that resulted in a $225,000 tampering fine against the Yankees, struck out three times and did not figure in the scoring as the Angels won for the fifth time in seven games.

The Yankees manufactured a run in the first on the speed of Roberto Kelly, one of the players soon-to-be-former Yankee boss George Steinbrenner tried to persuade the Angels to accept instead of Winfield when the outfielder balked at being traded for Mike Witt in May.

The fleet Kelly led off the first inning by beating out a grounder to third. He stole second and scored on a two-out single by Steve Balboni.

The second inning should have been over before Polonia came to bat, but Leary’s wildness gave the Angels an extra out.

Abbott gave way to Willie Fraser in the sixth when a two-out Yankee rally cut the Angels’ lead to 9-5. Singles by Bob Geren and Alvaro Espinoza put runners on first and second and convinced the Angels that Abbott had had enough. Kelly lined Fraser’s first pitch into center to score Geren but Fraser induced Sax to ground into a force play to end the inning.

Angel Notes

As expected, left-hander Bob McClure was activated off the disabled list Tuesday and infielder Rick Schu was optioned to triple-A Edmonton. “I’m anxious but not nervous,” said McClure, whose last regular-season appearance was Sept. 29, 1989 against the Texas Rangers. “I’ve had plenty of rest.”