Springer Hit Hard, Tigers Juice Angels : Baseball: Gibson hits two of Detroit’s four home runs, drives in seven in 11-5 rout.

Sparky Anderson thinks “that . . . nitroglycerin ball” is ruining the game he loves. Russ Springer, with a considerably narrower view than the Detroit manager, thinks the purportedly juiced baseball helped ruin his 1994 debut with the Angels.

Springer had a 7-4 record with a 3.04 earned-run average and four complete games with triple-A Vancouver and had won his last five starts. But all that momentum went south when he came down to Anaheim and baseballs started rocketing into the seats.

The Tigers hit four home runs Saturday night--two against Springer--including a three-run shot by Kirk Gibson off reliever Craig Lefferts with two runners who belonged to Springer on base and a grand slam by Gibson in the ninth en route to an 11-5 rout of the Angels in front of 25,713 at Anaheim Stadium.

Detroit, which leads the majors with 91 homers, has hit at least one home run in 18 consecutive games and has scored seven or more runs in eight of 11 games this month. The Tigers also have won 10 of their last 12.

So why is Anderson complaining?

“Baseball was made for all the teams, not just one or a few with power,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what Ken Griffey Jr. does, it matters what happens to the game.

“That thing is a rocket. I guarantee you it isn’t the same ball we used in the ‘60s, no matter what they say. It’s wound so tight, I swear one of them is going to jump out of the park on its own.

“The object is to sell memorabilia, to sell home runs. They say it’s exciting, but what are they going to do at the end of the season when you have eight or 10 guys hitting more than 40 homers?”

It wasn’t just the long ball that soured Springer’s return to the major leagues, however. He gave up nine hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings but back-to-back homers by Mickey Tettleton and former Angel Junior Felix in the second and Gibson’s shot in a four-run fifth were the death blows.

“I threw the ball pretty much where I wanted to,” Springer said. “I feel like I can win here, I feel like I belong. When you lose, you lose, but you can still take some good things out.

“Tettleton hit a low outside fastball and Felix hit a low curve ball.”

Gibson finished off the Angels with a towering shot into the right field seats off Mike Butcher, who had walked Travis Fryman and Cecil Fielder to load the bases after Bob Patterson gave up a double to Lou Whitaker, his third.

It was the third grand slam of Gibson’s career and his second against the Angels. The seven runs batted in were a career high.

The Angels, in desperate need of some solid starting pitching, might have thought their savior had arrived when Springer struck out the side after giving up a single to Tony Phillips in the first. He struck out five during his brief stint and gave up just one walk, but he gave up too many line drives and ended up looking far too much like the pitcher who was 0-2 with a 14.34 ERA during spring training.

“He had good arm strength and a good fastball,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “That was a good start, but the thing about pitching against a team like this, you’ll have to get those guys again. And you can’t get them the same way. They’ll adjust.”

Tiger starter Tim Belcher (5-8), who gave up a bases-empty homer to Tim Salmon in the first inning, did not allow another hit until the fifth when the Angels scored twice because the former Dodger forgot how to count to three.

The first three batters in the inning singled to load the bases, but Belcher got Rod Correia on a shallow fly to center. Spike Owen slapped a ready-made-double-play one-hopper right at Belcher, who didn’t throw home or to second but instead lobbed to first for the second out of the inning.

Chad Curtis drove in a run with a roller to third but Belcher struck out Salmon to end the inning.

The Angels loaded the bases on a walk and two singles in the seventh and Anderson brought in Joe Boever, who struck out Curtis and Salmon and then yielded a two-run bloop single to left by Chili Davis.