Angels Amble to 7-0 Victory Over Yankees : Baseball: Six-run sixth inning is accomplished with four walks and only two hits. McCaskill wins.

Had Dave Winfield been able to script his return to Yankee Stadium, he would have written a scene with a thunderous home run to win a tense ballgame.

Walking to start a six-run Angel sixth inning wasn’t quite what he had in mind.

“I was looking for something else,” said Winfield, who was showered with applause from the crowd of 27,013 in his first visit to his former home since the Angels acquired him in May. “I don’t think they (the Yankee pitchers) wanted to give me much. I was hoping they would.”

Although the Angels didn’t get much from Tim Leary besides seven walks, they made the most of them. First baseman Kevin Maas’ throwing error on a fielder’s choice grounder by Jack Howell in the sixth inning created an opportunity the Angels exploited in a 7-0 rout of New York in the opener of their six-game, two-city trip.

“Sometimes you try to play for one run and you catch a break and score six,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen in this game.”

Predicting a fine effort by the Angel pitching staff is safe. Kirk McCaskill (11-9) and Willie Fraser combined on a four-hitter, with McCaskill facing 19 batters--one over the minimum--in six innings before stiffness in his elbow dictated his early exit. Fraser earned his second save of the season with three respectable innings, helping the Angels build a streak of 22 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

The stretch began with 4 2/3 innings Saturday against Chicago, continued with Chuck Finley and Bryan Harvey teaming up in a 1-0 victory over the White Sox Sunday and flowed Monday as the Yankees never got a runner past second.

Roberto Kelly singled and stole second in the first inning, but McCaskill picked him off. McCaskill left Maas on second after he led off the fifth with a double.

McCaskill, who reduced his earned-run average to 2.85--fifth-best in the American League--went to the mound for the seventh inning but left because of the discomfort caused by bone spurs in his right elbow.

If the game had been closer, McCaskill might have stayed in. But with a six-run lead, built on three walks off Leary (8-17) and one off relief pitcher Greg Caderet, an error, Jack Howell’s RBI grounder and singles by Dick Schofield and Johnny Ray, tempting fate was senseless.

“I felt a little something while I was warming up, and I thought this wasn’t the time to push it,” said McCaskill, who attributed the problem to pitching the bottom of the sixth after a long wait while the Angels sent 10 men to bat in the top of the inning.

“I wasn’t in pain. It was still very much precautionary. Why push it now when I’ve come this far?”

The last time the Angels recorded consecutive shutouts was in the second and third games of the season. Chuck Finley and Mark Eichhorn combined to defeat Seattle, 7-0, on April 10, and Mark Langston and Mike Witt pitched a combined no-hitter in a 1-0 triumph over the Mariners the next day.

Fraser has allowed only three earned runs in 27 innings over his last 15 appearances.

“My role as a setup man isn’t a real prestigious role, but it’s gratifying when you can do your job and keep the team in a game and win one for the starters,” he said.

“Wins and losses are great, but I’d rather the starter get the win. I’m in a groove now because Doug’s been letting me pitch, and the more chances I get, the more I’m able to get in a groove.”

The Yankees are in a terrible groove, having lost their last five games in which they have been outscored, 42-6.

“We stunk the joint out in all phases of the game: offense, defense and pitching,” Yankee Manager Stump Merrill said. “We have a day off to regroup (today), thank God.”

Winfield will use his day off today to revisit old haunts and see friends and relatives. If his first game back didn’t follow the script he would have liked, having it end triumphantly was ample consolation. “All I can say is that it was good,” he said of the reception and the outcome. “I’m just glad we won.”

Angel Notes

Although Manager Doug Rader joked about holding a lengthy workout today, the Angels will have the day off. Rader needs it as much as his players, because he has been unable to shake a persistent cold.

Chuck Finley, who had experienced stiffness in his left shoulder after his start against Texas Aug. 26, has had no similar problems after his 1-0 victory over Chicago on Sunday in the finale of the Angel home stand. “Nothing that a 5 1/2-hour plane ride wouldn’t cause,” he said.

Chili Davis, in a one-for-25 slump, has struck out in five of his last seven at-bats. . . . Devon White’s ninth-inning single was his second hit in 20 at-bats. . . . Luis Polonia’s seven-game hitting streak ended. . . . Johnny Ray extended his streak to eight games. He’s 12 for 29 (.414) in that span. . . . Jack Howell is nine for 24 (.375) since his recall from triple-A Edmonton.

Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly, idled by back problems since July 25, has begun taking batting practice and could return within a week.