No Fan of Troy, Thomas Fumes After Whiffing

When his day’s work was done, when he had blazed one more fastball past Frank Thomas for strike three, Troy Percival did what came naturally. He punched the air with a wild overhand right in a dramatic show of celebration.

If it offended, so what? That wasn’t his intent. Certainly he hadn’t planned his reaction.

It was Percival’s game to save and he had done it, making the Angels 6-5 winners over the Chicago White Sox before 16,970 at Anaheim Stadium on Sunday.

Percival’s first save as the Angel closer left Thomas a bit cranky, however. Thomas glared long and hard at Percival as he walked slowly to the dugout at game’s end.

“I don’t know what he was looking at,” Percival said. “I was pretty excited. It was my first save situation in that role. He was eyeballing me pretty good.

“He’s got to understand. I would never show anybody up.”

Thomas seethed in the visitor’s clubhouse, unwilling to chalk up Percival’s actions to anything but an attempt to embarrass him.

“He’s a good pitcher, but when you start pumping your fist that’s going to come back to haunt,” Thomas said. “I didn’t appreciate what he did. If you’ve got good stuff, fine, but don’t start pointing at people like that.”

Thomas walked to the plate with Robin Ventura, the tying run, at first base and two out in the ninth inning. He had already smashed a two-run homer off reliever Mike James in the seventh to bring the White Sox within one at 6-5.

Percival entered the game with two out in the eighth and got Chad Kreuter to line out to end the inning. In the ninth, he struck out pinch-hitter Dave Martinez and retired Tony Phillips on a flyout before giving up a single to Ventura.

Percival fired the first two pitches to Thomas high and tight, then changed locations, hitting the outside part of the plate. That seemed to cross up Thomas, who flailed at the next three pitches.

It was Percival’s first save since closer Lee Smith went on the 15-day disabled list last week because of swelling on his surgically repaired right knee. Percival, who led the Angels with a 1.95 earned-run average as Smith’s set-up man last season, has not given up a run in three appearances this year.

“I was just excited because it was Frank Thomas,” Percival said. “He didn’t sweat it when he got me [by hitting a homer] last year and stared at me all the way around the bases.”

Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann saw nothing out of character or unreasonable from Percival.

“He’s just that way,” Lachemann said. “It’s a challenge situation. He’s challenging Thomas. Thomas is challenging him. . . . It’s not showing anybody up. There was a guy in Oakland [Dennis Eckersley] with 300-something saves who wasn’t afraid to let people know he was out there.”

The Percival-Thomas duel overshadowed four Angel home runs, a three-hit game by Rex Hudler and a standout start by left-hander Chuck Finley, coming off a poor opening day.

Hudler homered to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Tim Salmon hit a two-run homer in the third and Don Slaught hit a two-run homer in the fourth for a 5-0 Angel lead. Tim Wallach’s bases-empty homer in the sixth proved to be the game-winner, however, as Chicago rallied against Finley and James.

Hudler, filling in for Randy Velarde at second base, also singled and doubled.

Finley worked with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez on mechanics Thursday, hoping to correct his motion after his first start ended after 2 2/3 innings. Finley (1-1) gave up eight runs and eight hits in the Angels’ 15-9 loss to Milwaukee last Tuesday.

Their session worked wonders. Finley went 6 2/3 innings against the White Sox, yielding six hits and four runs with seven strikeouts and three walks. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before giving up a fourth-inning single to Thomas.