Allanson Weighs In for Angels

Andy Allanson has spent the last five years in baseball’s catch-and-release program. He’d catch for a few months, then get released.

Five teams have released the 33-year-old catcher since 1990, another traded him, and no team ever considered him the big one that got away.

But the Angels hooked Allanson last season, and Thursday he was the catch of the day.

In the Angels’ wild 15-9 victory over the Minnesota Twins before an announced 15,203 at the Metrodome, Allanson spelled starter Greg Myers and tied or set career highs for hits with four, home runs with two and runs batted in with six.

Tony Phillips added three hits, one a 454-foot homer into the upper deck in right-center field that sparked a seven-run third inning.

Spike Owen had three hits, among them a bases-empty homer in the ninth; Chili Davis had two hits and two RBIs, and Troy Percival snuffed out a rally after the Twins scored seven runs in the sixth to trim the Angels’ lead to 10-8.

Those kinds of performances Manager Marcel Lachemann has come to expect from the three veterans and the up-and-coming rookie reliever. But Allanson?

“That’s why I put him in there,” Lachemann said with a grin. “I’ve just been sitting him, waiting for his spot.”

Allanson had not had a hit since a homer in the season opener against Detroit. His average had plummeted to .048 and he had a 0-for-19 streak before the game.

But he hit an RBI single to center in the second inning and a two-run single to center in the third off starter Pat Mahomes, a bases-empty homer to left off Erik Schullstrom in the fifth and a two-run homer off Mo Sanford in the eighth.

Allanson’s six RBIs were four more than he had in 13 games with the San Francisco Giants in 1993 and six more than he had in nine games with the Milwaukee Brewers in ’92. He had only 13 home runs in 464 major league games before this season.

The outburst lifted Allanson’s average to .192, and for that he credited Davis, who gave Allanson batting tips before the game.

“We talked about being prepared to attack a zone of the plate,” Allanson said. “It’s tough to take the entire plate away. You have to attack certain zones on certain counts.”

Davis downplayed his part. “I don’t know who said what to him today, but he better not forget it, because apparently it works,” Davis said.

The Angels had a season-high 16 hits, and the 15 runs were the most they have scored since Sept. 15, 1993, when they had 15 against the Seattle Mariners.

They scored seven runs on five hits and five walks in the third and had a 10-1 lead after five innings. But starter Shawn Boskie tired in the sixth, giving up homers to Pedro Munoz and Marty Cordova and an RBI double to Scott Leius that made it 10-4.

Then the game turned into Mitch and Ken’s Wild Ride. Mitch Williams replaced Boskie and gave up a walk, a wild pitch and a single. Ken Edenfield took over and allowed Jerald Clark’s RBI single. Third baseman Eduardo Perez’s fielding error let two runs in, making it 10-8.

But Edenfield got Munoz to ground out, and Percival came on to strike out Scott Stahoviak, ending the inning.

Percival went on to pitch 2 1/3 innings of one-hit, five-strikeout relief, and the Angels continued to pound the Twins for two runs in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Bob Patterson replaced Percival in the ninth and gave up a homer to Munoz, his second of the game, and singles to Cordova and Matt Merullo, putting runners on first and second with one out.

But just as closer Lee Williams and top reliever Mike Butcher began warming up--with a six-run lead--Leius hit into a game-ending double play.

“Nothing is safe in this place,” Lachemann said. “Nothing. With one swing of the bat there, we would have been up by only three.”