Angels Mowed Down by Moehler

Chuck Finley’s arm came to life Saturday night.

Unfortunately for the Angels, their offense went dead just about the same time.

There were no late-inning rallies, no come-from-behind heroics on this balmy evening in Anaheim Stadium, because of the dominance of a 25-year-old rookie right-hander who waltzed through the flailing Angel lineup with the ease of Roger Clemens facing down a team of Little Leaguers.

With a 376-foot line drive over the left-field fence by former Angel Damion Easley and a 351-foot fly-ball homer by Travis Fryman his sole support, Brian Moehler earned the second major league victory of his career with a no-muss, no-fuss two-hitter as Detroit beat the Angels, 2-0, in front of 30,872.

“It’s pretty tough to manufacture runs when everybody’s sitting in the dugout with you,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “You just hate to waste a great performance like that by Chuck, but their guy pitched even better. And that’s baseball.”

Finley, who was out for a month after reliever Mike James let loose a bat that struck him in the face during spring training, has struggled with his control and doesn’t feel he has good velocity on his fastball yet. But the veteran left-hander has always been known as the consummate grinder and returned to that form Saturday night.

He went eight innings, gave up five hits, struck out five and walked one. He yielded two hits in the first inning, one in the second, Easley’s homer in the third and then retired 16 of the next 18 Tigers he faced, nine on groundouts and four via strikeout. Fryman’s homer--which appeared to be deflected over the short wall near the left-field foul pole by a fan--came off reliever Rich DeLucia in the ninth.

“I’m not happy with losing, but it was progress, something to build on for the next time,” Finley said. “My breaking stuff is real good right now and the fastball is around the plate. Their guy was just one pitch better than me.”

Finley’s miscue was a 3-2 fastball--low and down the middle--in the third inning to Easley, who hit 15 home runs in 1,099 at-bats as an Angel from 1992-96. It was his third of the season for the Tigers.

“I have tremendous respect for that team and especially Chuck Finley,” Easley said. “I was just fortunate to get a pitch to hit.”

Few of the Angels were as lucky.

Moehler was masterful, nipping the corners with his breaking pitches and tucking his fastballs in tight on the hands of Angel batters. He gave up Luis Alicea’s ground-rule double--the ball hit the wall, hit the ground, hit right fielder Bubba Trammell’s leg and then caromed over the fence--in the first, then retired 10 in a row before Jim Edmonds flared a double down the left-field line with two out in the fourth.

Moehler--who might have forgotten how to pitch from a stretch--plunked the next batter, Tim Salmon, with an inside fastball, but settled back into his deeply worn groove and mowed down 16 in a row. Only eight batters managed to get the ball out of the infield all night.

“He had total command of all of his pitches,” Salmon said. “He’s not overpowering by any means. He just keeps hitting his spots and lets guys get themselves out.”

Moehler, who earned his first major-league victory last Sunday against Oakland, was undefeated in his last 11 starts with double-A Jacksonville last season and appears to have picked up in the majors where he left off in the minors. He has two victories, a loss and two no-decisions, but hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his five starts.

“I wasn’t comfortable with my fastball and I didn’t think I was throwing very well in the first inning,” Moehler said. “But I just kept mixing it up and trying to hit my spots. And the flow of the game kept my rhythm going. You don’t want to be sitting in the dugout for 20 minutes at a time.”

Finley was glad to help Moehler on that count. And he likes his odds when he allows one run in eight innings.

“I’m sure if I go out and do that 15 more times, I’ll probably win 14 of them,” Finley said. “At least the guys know now that I’m capable of going out there and keeping them in the game.”