Abbott, Wayward Ways Return : Angels: He lowers his ERA to 2.85, but stays at 4-11 when bullpen fizzles in 8-2 loss to White Sox.

Hard infield, hard luck.

The Angels allowed another strong pitching performance by Jim Abbott to go unrewarded Saturday, after the White Sox scored six times in the ninth inning to grab an 8-2 victory and delight the large contingent of Chicago fans in the crowd of 29,349 at Anaheim Stadium.

Carlton Fisk’s pinch-hit single, which bounced over the head of third baseman Rene Gonzales to score two runs and break a 2-2 tie, highlighted the spree and left Angel interim manager John Wathan shaking his head in dismay.

“Fisk’s ball is a double play ball if we have softer soil in front of home plate,” Wathan said. “I’ve seen this happen a few times this year. They can soften up the area in front of home plate. You can look at it as an advantage for our hitters, but we’ve got to live and die with our pitching staff and you should not have one bounce in front of the plate (go) over the shortstop or third baseman’s head.”

Steve Frey (4-2), who gave up singles to Lance Johnson and pinch-hitter Tim Raines to start the ninth, was the loser. Chuck Crim, the fourth of five Angel pitchers, gave up hits to Fisk and Frank Thomas--Thomas’ third hit of the night--as the White Sox sent 12 to the plate. Thomas extended his hitting streak to 18 games and Johnson, who had three singles, stretched his streak to 22 games, the longest in the major leagues this season.

With Johnson on second and Raines on first and one out, the White Sox pulled off a double steal against Angel catcher Greg Myers, a late-inning replacement for Ron Tingley. Wathan vainly argued that Steve Sax interfered with Myers as he rose to throw to third; after home plate umpire Larry McCoy denied his pleas, Wathan ordered Sax intentionally walked to load the bases. White Sox Manager Gene Lamont then called on Fisk because, “no matter what he does, he’ll give you a quality at-bat,” Lamont said.

Fisk knew nothing less was required.

“You’d better have a quality at-bat against that guy because he’s a tough little pitcher,” Fisk said after Chicago’s sixth victory in seven games.

Abbott is used to bad breaks, having allowed three earned runs or fewer in 15 of his 20 starts this season but has only a 4-11 record to show for it. He reduced his earned-run average to 2.85, sixth-best in the American League, with his five-inning effort, his first appearance since he pulled a rib-cage muscle July 11. His lone mistake was a two-run home run by Thomas in the fifth inning, but those runs were unearned because of the error charged to shortstop Gary DiSarcina on a one-out grounder by Sax that hopped up and over his shoulder.

Another victim of bad fortune was White Sox shortstop Craig Grebeck, who apparently broke his right ankle while running out a routine ground ball in the fifth before Thomas’ homer. Grebeck was hit by a pitch last week and might have had a stress fracture in the ankle before Saturday, but the White Sox--who already lost premier shortstop Ozzie Guillen to knee surgery--only knew on Saturday that Grebeck was likely to be out for the season.

Abbott, who said he wondered before the game whether he would get anyone out, got enough outs to consider the evening semi-successful.

“It was 50-50. It had some good points and some bad points,” Abbott said of his performance, which was curtailed when he felt some stiffness in his pitching shoulder. He attributed the stiffness to his long layoff and said he doesn’t anticipate it becoming a problem.

“Overall, it was pretty good,” added Abbott, who gave up six hits, walked two and struck out three in throwing 74 pitches. “I had better command than I thought I would but I’m still a little rusty.”

The White Sox protected that 2-0 lead until the seventh. Gary Gaetti singled to left, Chad Curtis drew the only walk Greg Hibbard allowed in six-plus innings and Gonzales was credited with a hit when Hibbard dived to catch his pop-bunt but couldn’t snare the ball. Roberto Hernandez (4-2) came in to face pinch-hitter Ken Oberkfell, whose grounder to first scored Gaetti and moved Curtis to third. Curtis scored on a sacrifice fly to left by pinch-hitter Von Hayes.

Hernandez didn’t allow another baserunner, dooming the Angels to their fourth loss in five games.