Angels Go to Butcher, Who Cuts Up Blue Jays

A slight adjustment designed to help Mike Butcher hold runners on base has helped transform him from an often-erratic pitcher to a prominent member of the Angel bullpen.

And so far this season, when Manager Marcel Lachemann has gone to Butcher, he has responded with a strong performance and a victory.

That includes Sunday, when he was the winning pitcher in the Angels’ 5-3 victory over Toronto.

Butcher, who was sent to triple-A Vancouver twice last season, struck out Toronto’s Ed Sprague with two outs and runners on first and third base in the sixth inning Sunday, and struck out one of the game’s best hitters, Joe Carter, with a runner on second and no outs in the eighth.

Bob Patterson and Lee Smith combined to retire the final five batters, Gary DiSarcina hit a bases-empty homer and two-run triple and the Angels made three defensive plays Butcher predicted “would be the top highlights on ‘This Week in Baseball’ ” in the victory, before a SkyDome crowd of 35,290.

The Angels face 1994 Cy Young Award winner David Cone today, but Sunday’s victory assured them a split of a four-game series against a team many expect to contend for the American League pennant.

“To be where we are now, with several key guys like Tony Phillips and Jim Edmonds struggling offensively, is pretty good,” Lachemann said. “It shows if you have enough people and can pitch well enough, you can make it happen.”

Lachemann wasn’t sure whether Butcher could pitch well enough to make anything good happen. He threw hard and could snap off a curveball now and then, but he lacked command of both pitches. Butcher was 2-1 with a 6.67 earned-run average and 23 walks in 29 2/3 innings with the Angels last season.

“He couldn’t get it done here, and when I watched him pitch in Vancouver he wasn’t any good,” Lachemann said. “Then, when I left town he was fine. I told him I hate to be a jinx, but I’m going to be manager of this team, so you’d better get your act together.”

Butcher said he might have tried a little too hard to impress Lachemann, and, given another chance this spring, he was hardly overwhelming, allowing four earned runs in six innings.

But just before the Angels broke camp, pitching coach Chuck Hernandez suggested Butcher switch from a high leg kick out of the stretch to more of a slide step, which speeds delivery to the plate.

“I saw him do the quick step and told him he’s going to end up pitching like that all the time,” Hernandez said.

The switch seemed to calm Butcher’s motion and help him control his pitches. He used the new delivery Friday night, when he pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory over the Blue Jays; and again Sunday, when he struck out three and improved his record to 2-0.

“We eliminated the action that was getting him into trouble, but Chuck deserves all the credit,” Lachemann said. “He stood in his corner and battled for him, even when there were times he was the only one battling for him.”

Butcher’s toughest battle Sunday came after Paul Molitor, with Toronto trailing, 5-3, opened the eighth inning with a double. Up stepped Carter, whose two-run homer off starter Brian Anderson in the third inning landed in the second deck in left field.

Butcher threw two curveball strikes, but Carter took two balls to even the count. Butcher then blew a fastball by Carter on the outside corner for the strikeout.

“You don’t want Carter to beat you, but obviously you can’t walk him in that situation,” Lachemann said. “To get an out of any kind would have been good, but to strike him out so the runner doesn’t advance was great.”

Patterson, who has apparently moved ahead of Mitch Williams as the Angels’ top left-handed set-up man, came on to retire John Olerud on a fly ball and Roberto Alomar on a groundout.

Smith pitched the ninth for his second save, but credit second baseman Damion Easley and shortstop DiSarcina.

Easley made a diving, back-handed grab of Sprague’s two-hop smash up the middle and threw Sprague out from his knees; and DiSarcina leaped high to grab Lance Parrish’s broken-bat blooper in short left-center field to end the game.