Giving Up 9 Earned Runs, Finley Suffers His 14th Loss

Chuck Finley allowed nine earned runs for the first time in 194 career starts as the Angels lost to the Minnesota Twins, 11-3, Monday night.

Finley (15-14) gave up 11 hits, four walks and hit a batter as his earned-run average ballooned from 2.93 to 3.19. The 14 losses is a career high.

“I don’t want to use fatigue as an excuse,” Finley said. “They just beat my brains out. I’ve had better stuff and gotten beat and had worse stuff and won. I got in the most trouble by falling behind batters, and they just took advantage of it.”

Trailing 6-3 in the seventh, Finley was relieved with the bases loaded. All three runners eventually scored.

The Angels left the bases loaded in the second and sixth innings, and stranded two in the seventh when they trailed only 5-3.

The Angels have the fewest road victories in the majors. They are 24-51 away from Anaheim, including losses in six of their last seven on the road.

The Angels finish a four-game series in Minnesota on Thursday and conclude their season with a three-game set at Oakland.

For the Twins Monday night, Dave Winfield had two hits and drove in three runs and Willie Banks (11-11) evened his season record with relief help from Carl Willis, Larry Casian and Brett Merriman.

Banks gave up three runs--one earned--and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

“I had good command of my pitches,” Banks said. “In certain situations when I needed to make the pitch, I made it. (The errors) are part of the game. It was a sign of my maturity that I didn’t get all frustrated. When they put guys on base, I didn’t try to strike everyone out like I’ve done at times.”

Winfield had a two-run double in the third and and an RBI single in the seventh--both part of the five-run rallies.

Brian Harper and Jeff Reboulet each had three hits for the Twins, who have won five of six games.