Against Twins, Finley Is Fine

Chuck Finley’s big tease of 1996 continued with a masterful 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins Friday at Anaheim Stadium.

Eight innings, one run, six hits, seven strikeouts and two walks--a terrific outing, right?

But last time? Horrible. Right up there with the worst of his career.

And the start before that? Mediocre at best.

But that’s Finley’s method of operation this season. Great one night. Brutal the next time.

He hardly looked like the same pitcher who stumbled through 2 1/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox in his last start April 28. He gave up six runs and four hits as his earned-run average ballooned to 7.44 in the Angels’ 10-1 loss.

“I couldn’t take anything positive out of that start,” said Finley, who improved to 4-2 with a 6.20 ERA. “I had nothing and it showed. I tried to erase it from my mind and rebound from it. When you do that bad, it seems like 10 days until your next start. When you do good, it seems like two.

“I’ll say this: It’ll be a lot easier to watch the next four games.”

Finley was smooth and efficient this time, allowing only one runner past second base until Pat Meares led off the eighth inning with a home run. Finley struck out Minnesota right fielder Dennis Hocking in the first inning to record his 1,400th major league strikeout.

That Finley handled the Twins with such ease made this start all the more difficult to figure. Minnesota, despite playing without Kirby Puckett, who has a career-threatening eye injury, set an American League record with 175 runs scored in April and has a league-leading .296 team batting average.

“That makes that outing seem all the better,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “That’s a good team. You can never get enough runs against a [Minnesota Manager] Tom Kelly team. They’re never going to quit.

“I think it definitely helps [Finley’s] confidence.”

Said Kelly: “We could have used Kirby tonight, but I don’t think anybody could have hit Finley. He was too nasty.”

Troy Percival pitched another flawless ninth, retiring the Twins without allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield and earning his major league-leading 11th save.

He has yet to give up a run in 13 innings in 13 appearances.

Most of the announced crowd of 24,505 stuck around to watch Percival work his magic. Even Finley watched on a TV in the clubhouse.

“Yeah, I watched him,” Finley said after the Angels won their fourth in a row. “And you have to pay attention. You can’t see the ball if you don’t. He’s got two great pitches. But the thing is he throws strikes. When you’ve got that kind of command and that velocity, you’re going to be tough.”

Said Lachemann: “I think I saw Bryan [Harvey] go on a roll like that in ’93 with Florida. It’s definitely impressive.”

Percival, establishing himself as one of the majors’ top closers while Lee Smith recovers from off-season knee surgery, didn’t want to address his hot streak.

“I don’t like to talk about being hot because as soon as you do you’re not,” he said.

The Angels built a 3-0 lead after four innings, but weren’t exactly taking batting practice against Minnesota starter Rich Robertson (0-5).

Mostly, they pecked away.

Garret Anderson, who batted .214 (six for 28) on the recent trip, delivered a run-scoring double in the second inning.

Chili Davis had a run-scoring single in the third.

Don Slaught added a run-scoring double in the fourth and the Angels had a 3-0 lead.

“It’s good to get runs that way,” Lachemann said. “You’re not always going to bang the ball around the ballpark.”

Soon enough, they did just that.

Robertson escaped further trouble until the seventh, when Jim Edmonds homered over the center-field fence to make it 4-0. It was his team-leading 10th this season, but his first off a left-hander since last Sept. 22 off Kenny Rogers.

Finley took care of the rest.

“He got ahead and his command [of pitches] was much better,” Lachemann said. “He pitched inside better, which forces the batters to speed up their swing. Then the forkball becomes a weapon.”