Angels’ Loss to Twins Is Double Tough

Asked if the disappointment of the Angels’ 4-3 loss to the Twins Sunday afternoon would linger into the evening, Manager Doug Rader forced a smile.

“Only until I leave the clubhouse,” he said.

He paused, then added, “But I didn’t say when I’d be leaving.”

Rader and his players had much to rue after a defeat that dropped them into a second-place tie with Oakland in the American League West, a half-game behind the Chicago White Sox.

The Twins, who had lost their previous seven games, broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth with the only run they scored in the three-game series that didn’t result from a home run.

Lumbering Kent Hrbek, who had hit for Carmen Castillo and reached base on a force play, stole second and scored when right fielder Max Venable bobbled Junior Ortiz’s single off reliever Mark Eichhorn (0-1). Hrbek wouldn’t have been sent up to hit if former Angel Chili Davis hadn’t opened the inning with a single. And although Hrbek is no gazelle at 6-4 and 253 pounds, he made it to second easily when catcher John Orton threw wide to the first-base side of the bag.

“Hrbek just devastated them with his speed and shook up their catcher,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said, tongue firmly in cheek. “That made Venable nervous on the next play. I guess Herbie (Hrbek) showed his multitalented base stealing skills today.”

“I just messed it up,” Venable said. “I had plenty of time. It wasn’t the fact that I was rushing and I didn’t take my eye off it. I never got it out of my glove. It was a good old-fashioned error, a costly mistake, but I can’t dwell on it.”

The Angels had a chance to pull even in the eighth, but an overeager Luis Polonia ran through the stop sign displayed by third base coach Bobby Knoop and was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple.

“It was a dumb play,” said Polonia, who said he never looked at Knoop but was “pretty sure” the coach had wanted him to stop at second.

“This type of game, in that situation, you’ve got to make sure you’re going to be successful,” said Polonia, who had been caught stealing second in the fifth inning. “You don’t want to be the first out of the inning at third. . . . You are your own coach. I should know what to do.”

Rader didn’t fault Polonia’s enthusiasm. “What makes Luis tick in those situations makes him successful most of the time,” Rader said. “It took a perfect relay to get him and unfortunately, that’s what it was.”

Dave Parker drove in the Angels’ first run--his first in 46 at-bats since he hit a home run in his first Angel at-bat--but he regretted his failure to get another RBI in the eighth after Donnie Hill had singled. Parker flied to right to end the inning.

“I won’t sleep good tonight. I missed that slider. I should have hit the seats,” Parker said. “I’m swinging so bad, my mother can get me out.”

Not getting Hrbek out in the eighth proved crucial. So did starter Mark Langston’s inability to get the third out in the first and third innings. Fifty-one percent of the runs Langston gave up last season were scored with two out, a pattern that reappeared Sunday before 41,337 at Anaheim Stadium.

Kirby Puckett slammed a 1-and-0 pitch to center field with two out in the first for Minnesota’s first run, and Davis hit a two-run shot to left in the third after Langston had given up a double to Dan Gladden but struck out Greg Gagne and Puckett.

The Angels at least guaranteed Langston--who had five walks and eight strikeouts--wouldn’t lose when they scored three times in the fourth. Hill led off with a single and scored when Parker lined a double to right, only his sixth hit in his last 35 at-bats.

Parker moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Junior Felix beat out a roller to second. Felix moved to second when Jack Howell walked and scored on Venable’s ground-single to right, but Scott Erickson (1-2) regrouped and ended the inning by striking out Orton and getting Dick Schofield to fly to right.

ANGEL ATTENDANCE Sunday: 41,337

1991 (seven dates): 223,463

1990 (seven dates): 206,951

Increase: 16,512

Average: 31,923