Bats Moving, Angels Aren’t in Victory : Baseball: Offensive slump ruled over by Winfield, a leader in 10-2 rout of Indians. Club stays seven games behind Twins.

Before leaving Anaheim last week, Dave Winfield said the Angels’ 10-game, four-city trip and their next home stand would determine the team’s chances in the American League West chase.

After seven games, 84 hits and 44 runs, Winfield declared Monday, “We’re out of our drought, that’s for sure.”

More than that, he wouldn’t venture, not even after he got four hits and Gary Gaetti drove in five runs in the Angels’ 10-2 rout of Greg Swindell and the Cleveland Indians.

“If we’re making a move, I’ll tell you about it. I’ll let you know,” said Winfield, who helped make it relatively easy for starter Chuck Finley to become the third 14-game winner in the American League.

“Wait until we accumulate some wins and cut into that lead--or that deficit, depending on how you look at it,” Winfield said. “Hopefully, we can just keep playing like this and put together some kind of streak.”

The Angels didn’t gain any ground on the Minnesota Twins, remaining seven games behind, but they gained the satisfaction of routing Swindell (6-9). The left-hander hadn’t given up an earned run in his three previous starts against the Angels--seven unearned runs had him 0-1 against them in 25 innings over three games--and his 2.93 earned-run average entering the game was seventh-best in the league.

The Angels rocked him for four runs in the first inning Monday and six runs in his 1 2/3 innings.

“I don’t think we missed too many of his mistakes tonight,” said Wally Joyner, who got two singles against Swindell and a run-scoring double in the ninth inning against relief pitcher Steve Olin. “In the past few weeks, we missed other pitchers’ mistakes.”

Swindell made a 420-foot mistake in the first inning by throwing a 1-and-1 fastball to Gaetti, who slammed it over the fence in left-center field in Cleveland Stadium for a three-run homer. Gaetti drove in the Angels’ fifth run when he beat out a slow bouncer to third base in the second inning, and he produced his 10th RBI in his last 10 games when he singled home Winfield in the fourth.

The five runs batted in were one short of his career high--and one short of his total for June.

Given an early and huge lead, Finley (14-5) wasn’t about to let the Indians get back into the game. He got no decision in his first attempt at his 14th victory, July 19 against Cleveland, and he lost at Baltimore last Wednesday in his second try. His third try proved successful, thanks to the Angels’ generous support, but also because of his ability to keep the ball down and avoid home runs.

Finley walked four and struck out two over seven innings, and he generally was satisfied with his work.

“Mechanically, I still feel I’m a little off,” said Finley, who gave up a run in the fourth inning and another in the seventh and lowered his ERA to 3.91. “But even when I’m not totally there, I have a sense of battling, so I can get through things. I don’t give up. I’ll stay out there and keep battling. . . .

“Fourteen wins is just a number. It wasn’t like I wasn’t going to win another game the rest of the year. But it’s nice to go up on one number (the victory column) without going up in the bottom number.”

Winfield was at his best Monday offensively and defensively. His backhanded catch on a sinking liner by Jeff Manto in the fifth inning drew applause from the 7,998 Indian fans, and he coaxed surprising speed from his 39-year-old legs in making a running catch of a ball hit by Albert Belle to end the sixth.

Winfield’s bold dash on a line drive to left-center got him a double in the eighth inning, and he wriggled past a good throw to score on Dave Parker’s single.

“Occasionally, I got it in me,” Winfield said. “That was just a good, all-around game. I was able to display a little of everything.”

So were the Angels. Manager Doug Rader, 47 today, especially enjoyed watching the offense awaken and produce 33 runs in the last four games.

“I hope I look at it for the rest of the year, because it’s wonderful,” Rader said. “If you think you’re going to survive getting a hit here and there, with one run being a big uprising, you’re wrong. Extra-base power makes it an awful lot easier on everybody.”