Slaught Was Ejected, but Not Dejected

Thrown out of Thursday’s game in the second inning and with nothing better to do, catcher Don Slaught showered and sat in the stands with his family.

“I had a kid on each leg,” Slaught said.

Suffice to say, Christa, 5, and Cory, 2, were surprised to see their father approaching with the game still under way.

“I told them the guy in the blue shirt didn’t want me to play anymore,” Slaught said.

And what were the magic words that prompted home-plate umpire Greg Kosc to toss Slaught?

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” said Slaught, ejected for only the second time in a 15-year major league career. “I didn’t say a cuss word. The kids asked me and I said, ‘Daddy did not say a dirty word.’ [Kosc] said I was showing him up or something.”

Slaught’s only other ejection came as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990.

“I didn’t even know I had been thrown out,” he said. “I got mad. I walked out [to speak with the pitcher], then walked back to catch the next batter. [Manager Jim] Leyland had to tell me.”

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Good news for reliever Rich Monteleone: He’s throwing strikes. Bad news: The opposition is hitting them.

“He needs to move his pitches off the plate when he gets ahead of the hitters,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “He needs to use his changeup and breaking ball. If the hitters know everything is going to be a strike, they’re comfortable up there.”

Monteleone, acquired from the New York Yankees for utility player Mike Aldrete on June 12, has given up at least one hit in nine of 10 appearances and the Angels are 4-6 when he has pitched. He gave up Scott Brosius’ game-winning homer in the 11th inning Thursday.

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Right-hander Jason Grimsley’s spot in the rotation appears secure for the present despite four consecutive no-decisions.

Grimsley’s opponent Thursday, Oakland’s Steve Wojciechowski, was not so fortunate. He was sent to triple-A Edmonton on Friday.

“[Oakland] didn’t hit a lot of balls hard, but two hit batters and four walks hurt,” Lachemann said of Grimsley’s four innings of work. “Those types of things against this club, in this ballpark, are going to hurt you.”

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Infielder Randy Velarde’s 21-game hitting streak ended Friday. Rod Carew holds the franchise record with a 25-game streak in 1982.