Laugher No Joke to Finley : Angels: He gives up six hits and seven runs in two-thirds of an inning as the Red Sox coast to a 13-3 victory at Fenway.

He repeated the phrase, almost like a chant.

“Baseball is a funny game,” Chuck Finley said, over and over, but at no time was he smiling.

Finley’s attempt to become the first 11-game winner in the major leagues ended quickly Saturday as the Red Sox battered him for six hits and seven runs in two-thirds of an inning en route to a 13-3 victory Saturday at Fenway Park.

“I know I’m going to have one or two of these days a year, but I didn’t think mine would be this bad,” Finley (10-3) said after the briefest start he ever has had without an injury. He left after two-thirds of an inning at Kansas City on Aug. 21, 1989, because of a toe injury he had suffered while warming up.

“I’m healthy and everything. I just made bad pitches,” Finley said. “What I feel bad about is putting our team in a hole like that. It’s tough enough to win on the road as it is.”

Winning anywhere has become tough for the Angels, who have lost three consecutive games and six of eight to fall 3 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics.

The Red Sox, whose seven-run seventh inning Friday was the most productive by an opponent, duplicated that in the first inning Saturday. Their 16 hits equaled the most given up by the Angels in a game this season and their 10-run margin was the Angels’ worst defeat of the season.

“It was an ambush,” Dave Winfield said.

They have fallen into a pattern of losing high-scoring games. They have been outscored, 30-7, in their past three games--and all 30 runs were earned. The team earned-run average has increased from 3.41 to 3.76 in three games, with the bullpen responsible for 14 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings.

“It’s been ugly,” Angel designated hitter Dave Parker said, “but it’s something you’re going to go through during a season. The key is to minimize the damage.”

Finley, whose ERA increased from 3.12 to 3.81, gave up singles to Jody Reed and Carlos Quintana before Ellis Burks provided an interlude by striking out. Finley walked Tom Brunansky to load the bases, then watched Mike Greenwell nudge the first pitch to him between Gary Gaetti and the third-base line for a two-run single.

“He kind of slapped it. We were playing him to pull and he puts it where Gary would have been,” Finley said of Greenwell, a left-handed hitter.

The inning wouldn’t have been disastrous if Finley had retired Jack Clark--who was hitless against him in eight career at-bats--but Clark drew a full-count walk that loaded the bases. Brunansky was thrown out trying to score on a pitch that eluded catcher Ron Tingley, but Tony Pena sent a bouncer up the middle for a two-run double.

“I never conceded anything. I gave up two runs and after Pena’s hit, I was thinking, “I can still walk away from this thing down four runs,’ and keep us in the game,” Finley said.

“I never conceded the fact it was over until I was taken out.

“Pena’s ball took a couple of hops. After that, (the problem) was more or less my inability to make a couple of pitches.”

That failing was contagious. The Red Sox, who moved within a half-game of the AL East-leading Blue Jays, scored three runs against Jeff Robinson in 3 2/3 innings, including Clark’s eighth homer of the season and fourth in five games, in the fifth inning.

Scott Bailes was charged with one run in 1 2/3 innings and Bob McClure with two in an inning before Bryan Harvey pitched a scoreless eighth.

“It just kind of snowballed,” said McClure, who failed to retire the three batters he faced Friday and gave up hits to the first two he faced Saturday.

“The bullpen’s done so well for so long, but you get a few little rough spots. We’re getting a little bit away from our philosophy of how to pitch, and hitters are getting a little too comfortable.”

The Angels’ hitters did little against right-hander Mike Gardiner (3-1), whom they routed June 5 at Anaheim Stadium by scoring six runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Shortstop Luis Rivera’s fielding error on Winfield’s sharply hit grounder set up the Angels’ only successful challenge, in the fifth. Max Venable drove in two runs with a double and Dick Schofield got his 17th run batted in--one short of his 1990 total--with a single.

“We got a sniff when we scored the three, then we gave it right back (in the bottom of the inning) and that was about it,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said.

“When Chuck couldn’t get out of the first inning, they set us back. It was a tough road back.”

Their 13-game trip has become even tougher after losses in the first two games. “Right now, we’ve got to work hard and get a split here,” Parker said.

“The season is going to be peaks and valleys, and you’ve got to keep those valleys from getting too low.”

Despite Saturday’s dismal outcome, Finley remains high on himself and his teammates.

“I’ll be all right. I’m going to have 20 more starts and I’m going to push this one right out of my mind,” he said.

“I know what I did wrong and as long as I’m healthy enough to go out next time, everything will be fine.”