Langston Finally Finds a Way to Beat Athletics : Angels: Left-hander beats Oakland for the first time since 1987, when he was with Seattle.

A day after the Angels ended their longest losing streak of the season, pitcher Mark Langston ended a couple of skids of his own.

Langston went seven innings in a 3-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night at Anaheim Stadium. It snapped his eight-game losing streak against the Athletics and was his first victory since June 19.

The left-hander’s victory was his first against the Athletics since Aug. 12, 1987, when he played for Seattle.

True, it wasn’t a performance worth framing or worth remembering. But Langston (10-5) will savor it, at least for now.

“I’ve been trying for my 10th (victory) for a long time and it’s nice to finally get it,” Langston said. “It came against a team that has had the upper hand on me for quite a while. This was a big win for myself.”

Langston gave up six hits and walked four. He struck out four, but didn’t dominate. The important thing was that he won.

The last time he did was a 5-4 decision over the Chicago White Sox.

Back then, J.T. Snow was at first base, Scott Sanderson was in the starting rotation and the Angels were in the division race, one game out of first.

Now, Snow is in Vancouver, Sanderson--who was released Wednesday--is waiting for a phone call from another team and the Angels are nine games back and looking toward next season. Or the next or the next.

“They’ll give the young guys the ultimate chance to come up,” Langston said.

Langston, 32, would like to be the old man of that youth movement. On Tuesday, team officials began negotiations to extend his contract beyond 1994.

What the Angels would like from Langston in the future he didn’t deliver in the past 1 1/2 months. He is supposed to be a stopper, not a leak. Yet, during the Angels’ recent 10-game losing streak, he was 0-2.

He lost to Cleveland, 2-1, and New York, 5-2. Both times, he pitched well enough to win. It was part of a longer drought during which he went 0-4 with a 4.09 earned-run average in his six starts before Wednesday.

“I thought he pitched a better game in Cleveland than he did tonight,” Manager Buck Rodgers said. “He was good tonight.”

Which surprised Langston.

After all, he had been roughed up during his personal losing streak against the Athletics. Langston had given up 11 home runs and had a 4.37 ERA in his last eight starts against Oakland. That included a loss and a no-decision this season.

On Wednesday, he gave up a run-scoring single to Scott Hemond in the second inning and a home run by Rickey Henderson in the fifth. The Athletics had runners on in six of the seven innings against Langston, but they stranded six of them.

“I felt strong out there tonight,” Langston said.

Strong enough to stop a slide. His own.