Abbott Earns Career-High 13th Victory : Baseball: He limits the Red Sox to one run and six hits through seven innings. Angels win, 4-1.

The temptation tugged at Jim Abbott’s mind for an instant before he pushed it away.

To imagine what might have happened had the Angels played as well all season as they did in their 4-1 victory over the Red Sox Friday night was tantalizing, but the Angel left-hander knew such thoughts would do him no good.

“It’s frustrating for all of us. To keep going back over it is undue punishment,” he said. “We have a lot of questions to answer for the season we’ve had.”

Abbott is one of the few Angels who can answer those questions by pointing to a successful season. He earned his career-high 13th victory by holding the Red Sox to one run and six hits over seven innings before 29,698 at Anaheim Stadium.

“Every time he goes out there, I really enjoy being part of his night,” said third baseman Gary Gaetti, who contributed by corraling Carlos Quintana’s first-inning grounder and starting a double play.

“It’s not like I feel different behind any of the other guys, but as a third baseman I have better timing when he’s out there, the way he throws, his move,” Gaetti added. “It’s not like I’m not trying with the other guys, but I know if those guys don’t get the head (of the bat) on the ball, more than likely there’s going to be a lot of ground balls and the left side of the infield is going to get a lot of action. He’s great to play behind.”

Shortstop Dick Schofield, who started the third-inning double play that got Abbott out of trouble after Wade Boggs and Jody Reed had singled, said Abbott is pitching even better than his statistics show. Those statistics are impressive enough: Abbott has won four consecutive games and six of his last seven and has reduced his earned-run average to 3.07, lowest among the Angels’ starters. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 20 of his 26 starts.

“He went through spurts the past couple of years where he pitched well, but people still hit him,” Schofield said, “but his last seven, eight starts, it seems like he’s been unbeatable. And it shows in the way he goes out and throws.”

Abbott was throwing tentatively in the first inning, giving up singles to Boggs and Reed before Quintana’s double-play grounder and a walk and run-scoring single after the double play.

“Maybe I was trying to overthrow a little bit. My elbow has been in and out the last few weeks, and I was trying to figure where it was at,” said Abbott, who has been bothered by tenderness in his elbow. “It felt good, so I decided to just let it out and throw strikes.”

He got Ellis Burks out on a liner to right and got the privilege of working with a lead after the Angels scored twice in the bottom of the first.

Luis Polonia led off with the first of six walks issued by Matt Young (3-4), took second on a passed ball, stole third and scored on Dave Winfield’s single to short. Gaetti, who walked behind Polonia, moved into scoring position on Winfield’s hit and scored on Bobby Rose’s single to left.

Wally Joyner’s opposite-field homer to left in the third gave the Angels a 3-1 lead and was the first homer hit by a left-handed hitter off Young in 384 innings, since Houston’s Jose Cruz on April 8, 1987. Two singles and a grounder by Schofield in the eighth produced the Angels’ final run.

That helped end the Angels’ four-game losing streak and dropped the Red Sox 4 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East.

Mark Eichhorn retired the Red Sox in order in the eighth and Bryan Harvey followed suit in the ninth to record his 30th save, one short of the single-season club record set by Donnie Moore in 1985. As helpful as the relief performances were--and as crucial as the three Angel double plays turned out to be--both teams said Abbott deserved most of the praise.

“He got us out when he had to. We could have had him in the first, but we didn’t,” Boston Manager Joe Morgan said. “We had another shot at him later on with the same group (the middle of the order) and didn’t do it. You’ve got to give him credit. He pitched well.”

Said Angel Manager Doug Rader: “It would be very nice if it became the standard for that young man for the next 10 years to say every time that it was another fine effort.”

Abbott, who was 12-12 as a rookie and 10-14 last season, acknowledged pride in eclipsing his previous victory totals. But it’s not likely that success will spoil him.

“I feel happy about getting 13 because I’ve never done it before,” he said. “It’s something to kind of enjoy tonight, and tomorrow start getting ready for the next one.”