Thigpen Reluctantly Ties Record for Saves : Baseball: His 46th finishes Angels, 9-5, after the Chicago bullpen falters in the late innings.

Happy as he was to tie Dave Righetti’s major league record with his 46th save, Bobby Thigpen would have preferred to have the afternoon off.

“I’ve got the best setup guys in the league, I guess,” he said with a smile.

Or the worst, because Chicago’s bullpen turned a laugher into a drama that left Manager Jeff Torborg drained and Thigpen with a share of the save record.

With the bases loaded and the Anaheim Stadium crowd of 29,491 imploring the Angels to rally, Thigpen started a double play by snaring Dave Winfield’s line drive and finished it by doubling Pete Coachman off first, clinching a 9-5 victory that etched his name in the record books and cut Chicago’s American League West deficit to 5 1/2 games after Oakland’s 3-2 loss to Texas.

“I was more worried about the game than anything else,” Thigpen said, after watching bullpen mates Scott Radinsky and Kenny Patterson fail to protect a 9-2 lead. “It’s a nice feeling, but I’d rather have won by 9-2 or whatever the score was when Melido (Perez) left.”

Perez (12-12) held the Angels to two runs and seven hits over seven innings and benefitted from a Chicago offense that included three runs batted in each from Scott Fletcher and Ozzie Guillen and Carlton Fisk’s 350th home run. Angel starter Joe Grahe (1-2) defeated the White Sox last Sunday at Comiskey Park, but on Saturday he was rocked for six runs in three-plus innings.

“This on-the-job training is tough,” said Grahe, a rookie right-hander.

The Angels made it a tough day for the White Sox by batting around and producing three runs in the eighth, an inning highlighted by RBI singles by Coachman and Luis Polonia and a bases-loaded walk by Rick Schu, just recalled from triple-A Edmonton. It had all the signs of duplicating a rally the Angels staged against the White Sox on June 26 at Anaheim Stadium, when they overcame a 9-1 deficit to pull even before falling, 11-9, and Torborg didn’t like any of it.

“I worry until the last out,” said Torborg, too emotionally and physically spent to rise from his chair in the visitors’ clubhouse and peel off his sweat-soaked uniform. “I can’t believe it. We were talking in the dugout, Carlton and Sammy Ellis (the pitching coordinator) and I, about it being the same ballpark, the same score. It was unbelievable.”

Torborg resorted to Thigpen for the third consecutive game with one out in the ninth inning after Jack Howell reached first when Patterson missed a flip from first baseman Steve Lyons on an easy grounder and Ron Tingley walked on a 3-and-2 pitch.

Thigpen induced Coachman to ground to third, but Robin Ventura bobbled the ball, loading the bases.

Like Thigpen, Fisk’s concern centered on ending the game.

“I didn’t care about the record. I wanted to get it over with. I’m too old to be doing this,” Fisk, 42, grumbled in mock anger after the 3-hour, 39-minute contest. “He’s the guy to end it. . . . He’s almost (tied the record) in obscurity. Nobody’s made a big deal--not the media, not anybody. There’s a month to go and he’s tied the record. The guy’s been incredible all year. Sure, he’s blown a few, but everybody’s done that. I’d hate to see how far behind the A’s we’d be without him.”

There would be no need to measure that distance if not for Thigpen’s success, according to Torborg.

“We would be nowhere without him,” Torborg said. “We’ve won 18 two-run games and 26 one-run games. We’ve scratched and clawed for everything because we don’t have a big bopper. Our pitchers are young and inconsistent and he’s the constant, as Ozzie is on the field and Fisk is behind the plate. He’s the guy we hang our hats on.”

Thigpen might not have had anything to hang his hat on if he hadn’t reacted so quickly to Winfield’s line drive.

“I didn’t think it was hit that good, but everybody else said it would have taken my head off,” he said. “I saw it all the way off his bat. I caught it--I didn’t stab it--and made the play. Then I danced around looking for a base to throw to.

“I knew I had the record when Psycho (Lyons) finished the double play. You know things like that. I knew coming in that if I got a chance I could do it, but you can’t think about things like that when you’re pitching. Those guys out there are going to try and knock your head off.”

He’s still most interested in knocking off the A’s. “We have to pick up games wherever we can. We can’t lose too much ground anymore,” he said. “When they lose, we’ve got to win; and when they win, we’ve got to win. I plan on getting a lot more (saves).”

Angel Notes

As expected, the Angels activated catcher Ron Tingley, pitcher Greg Minton and infielder Kent Anderson off the disabled list and recalled infielder Rick Schu from triple-A Edmonton. All four got into Saturday’s game.

Schu, who was sent to Edmonton on Aug. 14 when Bob McClure was activated, drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to force in a run and stayed in the game in left field after Lee Stevens was ejected for arguing a strike call with home plate umpire Derryl Cousins. Jack Howell finished the game at first.

Howell was two for four and is seven for 18 (.389) since his recall from Edmonton last Monday.

Minton pitched a perfect ninth inning in his first appearance since July 8 at Milwaukee and first at Anaheim Stadium since April 17. . . . Devon White, ill with the flu, was a late scratch from the starting lineup. Max Venable was inserted in center field, his first start since Aug. 21. . . . Brian Downing’s eighth-inning single ended an 0-for-16 slump that covered parts of five games. . . . The Edmonton Trappers open a best-of-five playoff series against Tacoma Wednesday in Edmonton.

Every Chicago starter had at least one hit.