Abbott’s Work Matches Angel Bats in 7-1 Loss

Brewer outfielder Dante Bichette couldn’t find the exact word to describe what he thought the Angels lacked Friday.

“It seemed like, I don’t know, with Buck (Rodgers) gone, maybe something’s missing,” Bichette said of his former team. “Spark, maybe.”

What’s missing is their offense, which was evaporating before Rodgers was injured in the May 21 bus crash. The Angels produced only five singles Friday in their 7-1 loss to Chris Bosio and the Brewers at County Stadium, barely enough to support Jim Abbott on a good night and far from enough to support him on a subpar one.

Abbott (2-8) gave up eight hits and six earned runs in five innings, including a double and a bases-loaded triple by Bichette that accounted for four Milwaukee runs.

Two Angel singles and a stolen base produced a run off Bosio (4-3) in the fourth inning, but after Luis Sojo and Gary DiSarcina collected back-to-back singles in the fifth, Bosio recorded 15 consecutive outs for his first complete game of the season.

“We’re close to getting it together here,” said Bichette, who was traded to Milwaukee for Dave Parker on March 14, 1991. “Once we do, we’re going to have to be reckoned with. We have a history of playing well in the second half, and if we do that again, we could have a real good season.”

Bichette said Abbott “didn’t go out there with quite what he wanted. I’ve seen him throw a little bit harder, and I’ve seem him jam a lot more hitters. He didn’t have his control.”

Statistics back that up. The six runs were the most Abbott has allowed this season, raising his earned-run average to 3.25. He has won one of his last 10 starts, a 2-1 victory over Toronto May 9, and has gotten eight runs’ support in his last eight starts.

“It’s frustrating, but I played in Philly for two years and we went through some horrendous slumps,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “It got to the point where the pitchers were screaming from the dugouts at us to score some runs.”

Abbott and his fellow pitchers haven’t done that yet, although the Angels have scored more than three runs in only one of their last 10 games and needed 10 innings to do that against Baltimore Wednesday. And Abbott conceded that on Friday, a stronger offense probably wouldn’t have done him much good.

“It would have taken a lot of runs tonight to help me out,” he said after the Angels’ ninth loss in 11 games. “This was just a game where, when you’re going good and things are in sync, the ground ball goes to somebody, the pop-up is caught. Tonight, that just didn’t seem to be there. . . .

“It’s difficult. It’s as hard a period as I’ve been through since I’ve joined the Angels. But I’ll get through it. I’ll keep pitching, and as long as the coaches have confidence in me, I’ll keep going out there on the mound.”

The Brewers surged ahead, 3-1, on the fourth inning on a walk to Robin Yount, a sinking liner by Bichette that bounced over Chad Curtis’ glove for a double and B.J. Surhoff’s single past short.

The Angels had a chance to get back into the game in the fifth after Sojo and DiSarcina singled, but Bosio turned Luis Polonia’s bunt into a force at third and got Curtis to ground into an inning-ending double play.

“The bunt play was a big play. If we get the runner over, maybe things are different,” interim Manager John Wathan said.

Bichette’s three-run triple in the fifth inning made it 6-1 and pretty well finished off the Angels.

Recent evidence to the contrary, Wathan maintains his faith in the Angels’ offensive potential. “I believe this team will get back on track. I really do,” he said. “With the veteran guys you go on their track record and count on them getting it together again. If they don’t, it’s going to be a long year because we’re counting on the veterans and the young players.

“You’ve got to have a lot of patience.”