BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Failure to Hit in Game No Concern to Rodgers

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said he wasn’t overly perturbed that his team got only two hits against three San Diego pitchers Monday during a 4-0 loss at Yuma, Ariz.

“The obvious is we didn’t pitch very well and we didn’t hit very well,” Rodgers said. “But we got a lot of work with men on base, and the pitchers kept us in the game even though there were a lot of hits. It could easily have been 8- or 9-0.”

The Angels got no hits against Ricky Bones and Jose Melendez but finally got to Mark Knudson with two out in the eighth inning, when Damion Easley reached base on a slow bunt to third. Chad Curtis doubled to right field during the ninth for the Angels, who had won their three previous exhibitions.

Right-handers Scott Lewis and Dave Johnson, competing for the fifth spot in the Angels’ rotation, had equally spotty outings. Lewis, who began last season as the fifth starter but was demoted to Edmonton after going 1-5, gave up a run and five hits in three innings. Johnson, signed as a free agent in January, gave up two runs and five hits in two innings.

Johnson, who was 13-9 for the Orioles in 1990 but slumped to 4-8 last season, said he pitched better than the results showed.

“If you look for me to strike guys out, like Mark Langston, Jim Abbott or Chuck Finley, you’re looking for the wrong stuff,” he said. “I give up a lot of hits because I keep the ball in play. . . . It seems when I go to camp they always say, ‘Let’s see if we can get somebody better,’ at first and then they come back to me. I’ve got to hope the people here who make the decisions know what I can do.”

First baseman Lee Stevens is scheduled to hit against Finley and Bert Blyleven today in Mesa to measure his progress in recovering from a sore right wrist. If he is fit, Stevens will make his spring debut by the weekend.