16 Isn’t Sweet for McCaskill or the Angels

Kirk McCaskill could do nothing about the fireworks the Seattle Mariners set off inside the Kingdome after every Mariner home run.

But the blasts that inspired them were against him, and McCaskill seemed to suffer through almost all of his four-inning, 92-pitch outing in the Angels’ 7-1 loss Monday night before 33,471.

McCaskill gave up a two-run homer to Pete O’Brien in the first inning, a towering drive into the deck above the scoreboard in right-center field.

The deeper humiliation was yet to come, a solo homer in the fourth by shortstop Omar Vizquel. The home run was not only Vizquel’s first of the season, it was also his first in 512 at-bats, since he hit one July 24, 1990 against the Minnesota Twins’ David West.

McCaskill (9-16) now faces the possibility of 20 losses, which would break Frank Tanana’s team record of 19 set in 1974.

At times, the exasperation seemed to surface. When home plate umpire Dale Scott called ball four on McCaskill’s pitch to Dave Valle in the second inning, McCaskill moved toward the plate, upset. That earned him a greeting from pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, who guided him back to the mound. McCaskill took a walk toward second base before settling down.

“It wasn’t Dale Scott, it was just the culmination of a lot of frustration,” McCaskill said.

One other frustrating moment came in the third-inning, on a chopper to the mound by Greg Briley with O’Brien on second after a double. McCaskill tried to barehand the ball but dropped it for a base hit. O’Brien took third and scored on Alvin Davis’ sacrifice fly.

The Mariners, frustrated by Angel left-handers Chuck Finley and Jim Abbott the past two days, turned to one of their own on Monday--Randy Johnson, the 6-foot-10 former USC pitcher who took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Oakland Athletics last Wednesday before finishing with a one-hitter.

Johnson (12-8), the American League strikeout leader with 183, pitched eight innings, giving up seven hits and one run while striking out eight and walking only one.

The only Angel run was produced by the only left-handed batter who stayed in the lineup, Wally Joyner. Joyner homered with two out in the sixth inning.

Before Joyner, no left-handed batter had homered against Johnson in two years (65 starts), since Kansas City’s Jim Eisenreich hit a grand slam against him Aug. 19, 1989.

The homer was Joyner’s 18th and his third in the first eight games of the Angels’ 11-game trip. There were no fireworks to commemorate his homer, though, and the fan who caught the ball threw it back on the field. Joyner, trotting toward second, almost had to dodge the ball.

McCaskill finished with a 12-11 record and a 3.25 earned-run average last season despite pitching with an elbow that eventually required surgery. He finds himself injury-free this year but leading the major leagues in losses and carrying a 4.37 ERA.

McCaskill was 6-5 after a victory over Boston on June 5. Since then, he has won only three times in 15 starts. He gave up five runs and seven hits in four innings Monday, walking three and striking out two. Of the seven hits, two were homers and two were doubles.

“In terms of how I’m throwing the ball, I don’t think I’m throwing enough strikes,” McCaskill said. “When I need to make a quality pitch, I’m not. I’m not making them like last year when I needed to make a quality pitch.”

The Angels’ best other scoring opportunity may have been in the second inning, when they loaded the bases on singles by Lance Parrish and Dave Gallagher and a walk to Dick Schofield. Shawn Abner drove a ball to left, but Briley got to it.

“If Abner’s ball falls, it’s a different ballgame,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said.

It didn’t, and it wasn’t.