Once Is Not Enough, So Wallach Hits Two

When the Angels signed third baseman Tim Wallach last winter, players and front-office officials raved about what a great clubhouse influence the former Dodger and Montreal Expo would be.

But for most of this season, the clubhouse is about the only area Wallach has had an influence--he has been sporadic in the field and quiet at the plate, with a .253 average and only 10 runs batted in . . . until Wednesday.

Wallach finally made his presence felt, tying the score with a home run in the eighth inning and winning it with another in the 10th, as the Angels defeated the Kansas City Royals, 4-3, before 15,428 in Kauffman Stadium, completing a three-game sweep.

It was the Angels’ fourth consecutive victory, three in extra innings, and the third consecutive game in which reliever Chuck McElroy earned the victory and closer Troy Percival the save.

McElroy, who has pitched in five consecutive games, is the eighth reliever in baseball history to win three consecutive games and the first since Pittsburgh’s Kent Tekulve won three in a row May 6, 7 and 9, 1980.

“Do you think he’ll want to stay here?” Kansas City Manager Bob Boone quipped.

McElroy, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds for Lee Smith on May 27, relieved starter Shawn Boskie with one out and runners on first and second in the ninth and got Mike Macfarlane, who had homered in the last two games, to pop out and Joe Vitiello to ground into a fielder’s choice.

Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina, who returned after a four-game absence because of a hamstring strain, made a backhand stab of Vitiello’s grounder to the hole, spun and threw to second baseman Damion Easley for the force.

Wallach, who drove closer Jeff Montgomery’s first pitch of the eighth inning over the wall in right-center to make it 3-3, hit another Montgomery pitch into the left-field bleachers to make it 4-3 in the 10th.

Percival, pitching for the fourth day in a row, walked Jose Offerman to open the 10th but retired the next three batters for his 16th save.

“It’s going to be a loud flight home instead of a long one,” McElroy said. “My thing is, no matter who gets the win, the team won, and it just gets us closer to Texas . . . if Texas would ever lose.”

The Angels, who salvaged a 4-5 trip, remain 8 1/2 games behind the Rangers, but if not for Boskie, Tim Salmon and Wallach, they would have lost ground Wednesday.

With the exception of the fourth inning, in which Boskie gave up a walk, Bob Hamelin’s double and Craig Paquette’s three-run homer, Boskie was in command, as no Royal runner reached third again until the eighth.

The Royals had Chris Stynes at third and Tom Goodwin up with one out when Boone called for a squeeze play on an 0-2 pitch. But Goodwin fouled off a low, inside breaking ball for the strikeout, and Boskie got Jon Nunnally to fly to left for the final out of the inning.

Since moving from the bullpen to the rotation May 21, Boskie is 3-1 with a 2.48 earned-run average in five starts, and he has gone eight innings or more in his last three starts.

“In my mind, Boskie is right up there with the big-time starters in the league,” Percival said. “Every time out he gives you seven or eight innings and keeps you in the game.”

Salmon, who batted .343 (12 for 35) with five homers, 11 RBIs and nine runs on the trip, followed walks to Orlando Palmeiro and Wallach in the first inning with a two-run double to left-center off left-hander Jose Rosado, a 21-year-old who gave up four hits in six innings in his major league debut.

But Angel bats, booming for the last three games, were virtually silent until Wallach’s late heroics, which were made possible by Manager Marcel Lachemann, who left Wallach in to face the right-handed Montgomery instead of using left-hander Jack Howell to pinch-hit.

“I know I haven’t been contributing as much as I’d like, and that bothers me more than anything else,” Wallach said. “I had been feeling for pitches, tinkering too much, getting myself out. But today I just went up there looking for a pitch, seeing the ball and swinging hard. It felt great to tie the game, and even better to win it.”