Orioles Find Answer in Anaheim : Angels: Baltimore prevails, 2-0, one night after losing to its triple-A affiliate.

The Baltimore Orioles walked into Anaheim Stadium looking like a feast for a hungry team.

They brought with them a .226 batting average, the American League’s worst, and a young pitcher whose earned-run average had two digits to the left of the decimal.

Plus, they had lost a game in the East the night before--to the Rochester Red Wings, their triple-A affiliate.

But the Angels, losers of seven of their past nine before Friday night, didn’t get fat off the Orioles, who held them to five hits in a 2-0 loss before 37,085.

Afterward, Dave Winfield sat shaking his head, frowning and shrugging.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said.

Together, Wally Joyner, Winfield, Dave Parker and Gary Gaetti--the third through sixth hitters--went 0 for 15.

Baltimore’s Ben McDonald, the 6-foot-7 right-hander who won his first five major league starts as a rookie last season, had a rougher start this year.

After opening the season on the disabled list with a strained right elbow, he entered the game with a 12.27 ERA in two starts.

By the time he left, he had held the Angels to two singles in 6 1/3 innings with a fastball in the 90s and had nearly cut his ERA in half, to 6.75.

Gregg Olson, the fourth Baltimore pitcher, entered in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

The Angels’ starter, Kirk McCaskill, didn’t do great harm to his ERA, giving up two runs on nine hits over six innings. More disturbing was the manner in which he did it.

McCaskill (2-3), who gave up only nine homers last season, gave up two to the Orioles, bringing his total to five this season.

Mike Devereaux, hitless in his past 11 at-bats but four for five against the Angels Friday, gave Baltimore a 1-0 lead in the third inning when he lofted a ball to left, striking the foul pole about two-thirds of the way up, his third home run of the season.

It was the fourth homer McCaskill had given up in 28 innings this season, a rate far ahead of last season, when he gave up one in his first 65 1/3 innings.

It wouldn’t be McCaskill’s last of the game. Sam Horn, who like Devereaux entered the game batting .400 against the Angel right-hander, led off the sixth inning with his fourth homer of the season, a shot into the center-field terrace, easily more than 400 feet.

Last season, McCaskill’s average of one homer allowed every 19 1/3 innings was second-best in the American League to Roger Clemens, who allowed one every 32 innings.

“I made some bad pitches,” said McCaskill, who said he didn’t get hurt badly for many of them. “I’m having a hard time locating the ball, and I wasn’t going to walk anybody.”

McCaskill had walked six in each of his previous two losses, both to Oakland.

Angel Manager Doug Rader wasn’t inclined to dwell on much other than the lack of offense.

“We pitched out of some jams, (Dick Schofield) made a nice play, the bullpen did a good job, but the bottom line is we need to score some runs,” Rader said. “This team is too good offensively to continue much longer like this. We’ve got to break out of this.”

The Angels had opportunities to score, two of them squelched on tag calls. “We got a couple of close calls go against us that cost us three runs,” Rader said. “The bottom line is this club is supposed to score more than three runs.”

McDonald (1-1) began his third start of the season unconvincingly, walking leadoff hitter Luis Polonia and then giving up a line drive to right by Luis Sojo.

Polonia tried to take third but was called out on right fielder Joe Orsulak’s throw from the right-field foul line--his sixth outfield assist of the season, best in the majors. Rader was immediately out to protest, to no avail.

From that point, McDonald didn’t allow another hit until Sojo singled with two out in the sixth. McDonald went to a 3-and-0 count on the next batter, Joyner, but retired him on a grounder.

The only other baserunner McDonald allowed in that stretch was on a second walk to Polonia with two out in the third inning.

The Angels fared better after McDonald left, but lost a chance to score in the eighth inning when Junior Felix was caught stealing with one out, the second of two calls Rader questioned.

Singles by Schofield and Polonia followed, but the Orioles preserved the shutout when shortstop Cal Ripken threw out Sojo at first on a grounder, stranding runners at first and second.

The Orioles’ offense made it a busy night on the warning track for center fielder Felix.

“It seemed like everybody was hitting to the middle. They were hitting good,” Felix said. “It didn’t bother me, it just made me work out hard.”

The Angels wish the Orioles’ outfield had to say the same.