Polonia Comes Through; Angels Beat Twins, 2-1

It occurred to Luis Polonia that with the score 1-1 in the eighth inning and a left-hander pitching for the Twins, Angel Manager Doug Rader might send Dave Winfield up to hit for him.

But as if banishing the thought from his mind would banish the possibility, Polonia didn’t think about it for long.

“I told myself, ‘It’s not going to happen. He’s not going to put me down no more,’ ” said Polonia, a left-handed hitter. “Unless we need a grand slam to win, then you bring in Winny. He didn’t, and I’m proud of that. It gives me a lot of confidence.”

To thank Rader, Polonia gave the Angels a game-winning hit.

Polonia’s two-out single against Allan Anderson scored Dave Gallagher with the decisive run in the Angels’ 2-1 victory over Minnesota Saturday night, lifting them into a first-place tie with the Oakland Athletics.

A biting curveball enabled Kirk McCaskill (2-1) to hold the Twins to three hits in eight innings, including a home run by former Angel Chili Davis that brought Minnesota even at 1-1 in the eighth.

“Games that are close like this, they’re nice to pull out,” said Gallagher, who singled with one out in the eighth and moved into scoring position on a ground out.

McCaskill threw only 97 pitches before yielding to Bryan Harvey, who finished off the two-hour contest with a perfect ninth inning. The save was Harvey’s third and the bullpen’s first since April 11.

McCaskill didn’t mind leaving the game in Harvey’s hands. “It’s Harv’s game at that point. That’s why he’s going to get a lot of saves this year,” said McCaskill, who walked one and struck out two. “If the game was tied, I was going back out, but that’s why he’s there.”

The Angels scored their first run in the third inning, on a double by Donnie Hill that darted between third baseman Mike Pagliarulo and the bag, a well-executed sacrifice by Gallagher that moved Hill to third and Junior Felix’s fly to right.

The Twins got only four balls out of the infield against McCaskill in the first seven innings and he didn’t give up a hit until Kent Hrbek punched a grounder to the right side that Luis Sojo slowed down, but couldn’t play.

“I had some good snap on my curveball, which I hadn’t had for a while,” McCaskill said. “It’s still biting when it gets to the (strike) zone, not just rolling in there.

“Gene Mauch once told me that if you have two pitches you can throw for strikes, you can win. If you have three pitches you can throw for strikes, you should shut ‘em out. I had 3 1/2 working today--I threw some bad curveballs.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Allan Anderson. I think he pitched better than I did the first few innings. I thought he was right on his game from the first.”

McCaskill stayed ahead until the eighth, when Davis hit an 0-and-1 slider into the seats in right-center to end the Twins’ consecutive scoreless-innings streak at 22. Angel left-hander Chuck Finley limited them to two hits Friday in a 2-0 Angel victory.

Davis wasn’t perturbed to hear most of the 34,767 fans at Anaheim Stadium boo his home run.

“They booed me when I was here,” he said.

They cheered Polonia’s hit, which helped stretch Minnesota’s losing streak to seven. Despite Polonia’s fears, Rader said he never seriously considered sending up a pinch-hitter.

“He’s a disciplined and good hitter and I expect him to do well in every situation,” Rader said of Polonia, who entered the game with a batting average of .385 (five for 13) with runners in scoring position.

“I know a lot of people are wondering why Dave Winfield didn’t pinch hit, but why take a guy cold off the bench to face a guy who’s throwing screwballs and pitches of that nature? There’s no advantage. You might as well have a guy you know hit .335 in his life in that situation.”

In case Rader ever forgets that was Polonia’s 1990 batting average, Polonia wears a thick gold charm with those numbers on a chain around his neck.

“I want to be able to do even better and be able to throw this one away. That’s my goal,” said Polonia, who is hitting .326. “If I get over .335, it’s gonna be (a charm) full of diamonds so everybody can see it. . . . Last year I was close to winning the batting title, but I didn’t play enough (he was 66 plate appearances short of qualifying). If I play in April, I get those chances. In three weeks, I get over 50 at-bats. I never got that chance before. This is the first time I get that chance.”