Schofield Saves Day for Finley : Angels: Shortstop makes two big plays in the field, then sparks six-run inning. Pitcher wins his eighth, 8-4.

There is nothing complicated about Dick Schofield’s approach to playing shortstop.

“I try to catch it and throw the guy out,” he said. “I try to keep it as simple as possible.”

Simply put, Schofield’s ability to make two third-inning plays Wednesday night kept the Angels from being routed by the White Sox. His ability to drive in two of the Angels’ six runs in the sixth inning enabled them to rally for an 8-4 victory at Comiskey Park and move within two games of first place in the AL West.

Angel starter Chuck Finley assumed the American League lead with his eighth victory in 10 decisions, but he came close to being ushered out of the game in the third, when he gave up hits to the first four batters he faced and walked the fifth.

“They more than had Chuck on the ropes. One more hit and he was gone,” said Dave Winfield, who had given the Angels a 2-0 lead in the third on a line-drive homer to left. “It was a long inning. It could have been a lot longer.”

Finley’s outing would have been a lot shorter if not for Schofield, whose diving stop on a grounder hit sharply toward the hole by Sammy Sosa with runners on first and second kept the ball from going through the infield. Schofield had no play, but he saved at least one run.

Schofield bettered that with an acrobatic leap on Scott Fletcher’s liner with the bases loaded, saving two more runs and getting the Angels the second out of the inning.

Chicago scored four times in the inning to take a 4-2 lead, but the damage would have been far greater without Schofield’s fielding and Dave Gallagher’s throw home to get Carlton Fisk trying to score from second on a single by Craig Grebeck.

“The difference in the ballgame was Schoey’s play and Gallagher’s throw,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “Had not those plays occurred, we would have been out of the ballgame so far that it might have been impossible to catch up.”

After saving the game, Schofield helped win it in the sixth, as the Angels had eight hits in an inning for the first time since 1988. Schofield’s single off Greg Hibbard (3-3) brought the Angels even at 4-4, and RBI singles by Wally Joyner, Gary Gaetti and Dave Parker and a wild pitch by Melido Perez broke the game open.

The White Sox committed two of their four errors in that inning, leaving Manager Jeff Torborg exasperated. “We can’t win if we do these things,” he said. “We’re just sloppy.”

Schofield is hitting .270 with 11 RBIs in 37 games, compared with his total of 18 RBIs in 99 games last season. Asked whether he valued his defensive contributions over his offensive showing, he smiled.

“I like the hit. I like both, really,” he said. “Any time you do something like this, you’ve got to be happy with it. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a big RBI guy. I’d love to be an RBI guy. I haven’t been. Batting ninth, you don’t get that many opportunities. But I enjoy batting ninth, so I can’t complain.”

Finley certainly had no complaints, not after surviving his rocky third inning and getting a victory.

“That one inning, the pitches most of those guys hit were good pitches,” said Finley, who matched his season high with nine strikeouts--but also equaled his season high in giving up 10 hits.

“It’s hard to put together that many hits on good pitches, but they did. It would have been different if I’d knocked myself out in that inning, but 4-2 is not a blowout. I have enough confidence in our defense and offense that we can make up two runs with six innings to play.”