Abbott Can’t Finish, but He Can Win : Baseball: Pitcher shuts out Royals over seven innings despite nagging skin problem in the Angels’ 4-0 victory.

Jim Abbott can’t figure out if that’s a blister or a callus on the middle finger of his left hand.

What’s clear to him, if not opposing hitters, is that it’s cramping his style, forcing him to leave unfinished business on the field.

Abbott couldn’t polish off the Kansas City Royals, shutting them out for seven innings, but reliever Troy Percival could and the Angels won, 4-0, Tuesday night for their seventh consecutive road victory and 12th in the past 13 games.

The Angels are 20-6 since the All-Star break.

Later, Abbott expressed disappointment over failing in a bid for his first shutout since his 1993 no-hitter against Cleveland. He said he felt bad about turning the game over to the bullpen.

It was the blister, or callus, that stopped him short, troubling him late in the game when he threw breaking pitches.

“As small as it is, it’s important to release the ball correctly,” Abbott said, showing how the blister affects his grip on breaking pitches. “It builds up during games.”

In the end, it hardly seemed to matter, except to Abbott, that he couldn’t finish. After all, he won at Kauffman Stadium for the first time in his career. He was 0-5 with a 5.44 earned-run average there going into Tuesday.

The Royals, who had scored 40 runs in four games going into Tuesday, couldn’t hurt him this time.

Abbott, 2-1 in three starts as an Angel and 8-5 with a 3.29 ERA overall, gave up seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk. He left only when his middle finger began troubling him.

Trainer Ned Bergert noticed Abbott looking closely at his finger after the seventh inning. Pitching coach Chuck Hernandez took a look and decided enough was enough.

“I was disappointed,” Abbott said. “I wanted to keep pitching. With the bullpen the Angels have, I don’t feel as bad [about leaving]. Even though you have a good bullpen like we have, you’d still like to give them a night off.

“It just wasn’t do-able.”

For a while, it looked as if Abbott would give the bullpen a day off for the second consecutive game. Mike Harkey pitched a complete-game victory over Texas, 9-2, Monday at Anaheim Stadium.

But Percival provided capable support, pitching two scoreless innings and recording his second save. The Angels had closer Lee Smith warming up, but Percival pitched the ninth.

And then there was the offense.

Chili Davis singled, doubled and hit a two-run homer, Jim Edmonds hit a bases-empty homer and Garret Anderson contributed a run-scoring single.

Davis extended his hitting streak to a season-high 13 games and scored his 1,000th career run. Edmonds’ homer was his 24th, tying him with Tim Salmon for the team lead. Anderson has hit in 24 of his past 27 games, going 48 for 115 with nine homers and 34 runs batted in.

Edmonds also provided the game’s defensive highlight, chasing down Gary Gaetti’s two-out eighth-inning drive to left-center field, crashing into the fence as he made the catch.

Same old, same old.

Tom Gordon, Kansas City’s starter, didn’t pitch poorly, but then again he didn’t get the support Abbott received. Gordon, 6-8 and winless in five consecutive starts, gave up eight hits and three runs in seven innings.

The Royals, with 23 extra base hits in their past four games, got only singles against Abbott. They had two runners on base with two out in the sixth and seventh, but couldn’t land a knockout punch against Abbott.

“I don’t know if he’s the final piece to the puzzle,” Lachemann said of Abbott. “He’s another part and that’s been important for us . . . We have to keep grinding it out.”

Abbott certainly did his part.

So what exactly is the problem with his finger?

“It’s a callus that can’t quite form,” Abbott said, showing an ugly mass of skin near his fingernail. “It’s been so hot and humid. I sweat a lot, so I use rosin, which dries it out.”

Nolan Ryan used to have a similar problem and Abbott said he heard Ryan would soak his fingers in pickle juice.

Abbott isn’t quite to that point yet, but he hopes his next two starts--indoors at Minnesota’s Metrodome and at drier, cooler Anaheim Stadium--will offer some relief.