Detroit Deals 11th to Angels : Baseball: Club closes to within two losses of record. Fielder’s three-run homer helps Tigers to 5-4 victory.

Buck Rodgers learned Thursday he won’t return to the Angels’ dugout before mid-August. By then, the Angels’ losing streak should be over.

But it could be close.

Detroit first baseman Cecil Fielder, left off the American League All-Star team, took his frustrations out on a Bert Blyleven slider in the first inning, blasting a three-run home run that lifted the Tigers to a 5-4 victory over the Angels on Thursday night at Tiger Stadium.

The Angels made a respectable comeback against Frank Tanana (8-5), led by a home run and a two-run double by Chad Curtis, but couldn’t avert their 11th consecutive loss, and 17th in 19 decisions against left-handed starters.

“It’ll end. I keep thinking every day it’ll end,” interim Manager John Wathan said after his team moved within two of the club record for consecutive defeats, set from Sept. 19, 1988-April 4, 1989. “We’re not the first team that’s struggled like this, and we won’t be the last. It builds character. Right now, I think we’ve all got a lot of character.”

Their hopes of having Rodgers back on the job immediately after the All-Star break were dashed when team orthopedist Lewis Yocum advised him he wouldn’t be able to walk without crutches or a cane for about three weeks. Rodgers, who suffered a broken left knee, two broken ribs, a shattered right elbow and broken right wrist in the team’s May 21 bus accident, admitted he was deflated.

“I was real surprised because I . . . misinterpreted something when he said I’d be able to walk, (thinking) that I’d be able to walk easily,” Rodgers said from his home in Yorba Linda. “But he doesn’t want me to put full weight on it. So we’re going to go with special crutches and then maybe a cane to make sure it doesn’t crack.

Rodgers said his goal for returning is now the first week in August.

Blyleven (3-3) couldn’t meet his goal Thursday. Hit hard for the fourth successive start, Blyleven struggled with his pitch location and lasted only four innings, failing in his fourth attempt at his 283rd victory. In his last four starts, over 14 1/3 innings, he has given up 28 hits and 21 earned runs, an earned-run average of 13.19. Overall, his ERA is 5.21, up from 1.67 on June 16.

“I hung a slider to Fielder and he crunched it,” Blyleven said, “and at that point I thought to myself, ‘Well, that’s all they’re getting.’ But they ended up getting more.”

Fielder, who was applauded by the crowd of 15,102 in commiseration for his All-Star snub, said the homer wasn’t a message.

“I didn’t have to show anybody anything,” Fielder said after his first homer in 15 games. “I just go out and play my game.”

After Curtis’ homer cut the Tigers’ lead to 3-1 in the top of the second inning, they came back in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-1 lead on singles by Milt Cuyler, Tony Phillips and Lou Whitaker. Two singles, a fielder’s choice grounder and a double by Travis Fryman made it 5-1.

The Angels made a run at Tanana and the Tiger bullpen, scoring twice in the sixth inning on Curtis’ double to left and pulling within a run in the eighth on two singles and Rene Gonzales’ grounder to the left side, but Mike Henneman earned his 16th save with a one-hit ninth inning.

Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson understands the Angels’ woes. “In 1989 (when the Tigers lost 103 games) we could not win a game. We’d win one, lose six. We lost 13 in a row. We’d win one, lose three,” Anderson said.

“I’ll tell you how bad we got: We had a makeup game against Oakland, and they were going to fly all the way here on a day off and they were going to pitch Dave Stewart, who was in his prime. I just said if they would like, we’ll mail it to them.

“You feel almost at times like you’re trying everything, but you know in your heart it doesn’t matter. We faced Roger Clemens and we had no chance. . . . It ain’t no fun. The only thing about it is everybody knows----me, baseball people--John (Wathan) is doing his best. You can’t do any more than that.”