Johnson Is Not Big Deal to Angels

A rather tall left-hander came through with another dominating performance Wednesday night in the Kingdome, and his name was not Randy Johnson.

Much to the dismay of Seattle Mariner fans expecting big things from their Big Unit, it was Angel ace Chuck Finley who came up huge.

Finley outdueled Johnson by giving up one run on six hits and striking out eight in eight innings to lead the Angels to an 8-1 victory over the Mariners in front of 24,944 in the Kingdome.

Finley, the 6-foot-6 left-hander, improved to 9-4 with a 2.93 earned-run average in the Kingdome and has a 17-7 career record and 2.56 ERA against Seattle.

“Believe me, Randy Johnson is as great a pitcher as there is in baseball, but Chuck Finley doesn’t take a back seat to anybody--nobody,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said.

“From what I’ve seen the last two years, these are the two best left-handers in the game.”

This has been some week for Finley. He opened the trip with an 8 1/3-inning, five-hit, 10-strikeout performance to beat Minnesota last Friday and returned to Orange County for the birth of his second daughter, Raine, last Monday.

Then Wednesday night, Finley (6-2) shut down the Mariners, who set a club record with 13 home runs in the previous three games and lead the major leagues with 97 homers. The Angels improved to 5-1 on their seven-game trip, which ends in Seattle tonight.

“I don’t know how you can top this,” said Finley, who made 134 pitches Wednesday night, 79 for strikes. “I’ve already been blessed with the best you can ask for in life. It started with a win in Minnesota, everything went great with the birth of my daughter . . . you can’t get much better than that.”

And you can’t get much better against Johnson than the Angels were Wednesday night. Johnson entered with a 13-5 career record and 2.69 ERA against Anaheim, but the Angels ripped him for six runs--five earned--on nine hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Cecil Fielder had three hits, including an RBI single in the seventh inning and a two-run homer in the ninth. Craig Shipley had three hits and Damon Mashore, filling in for injured center fielder Jim Edmonds (bruised left knee), had a key home run to pace the Angels’ 14-hit attack.

The Angels snapped a 1-1 tie with a five-run seventh inning. The rally began when Mashore jumped all over a flat Johnson slider.

Mashore hit it to the left-field seats for a homer and a 2-1 lead.

Gary DiSarcina doubled to right with one out, Darin Erstad was hit by a pitch and Dave Hollins walked to load the bases. Tim Salmon grounded slowly to third, and Russ Davis threw to second for one out.

But Hollins got just enough of second baseman Joey Cora to prevent the Mariner from making a relay to first, and the hobbling Salmon was safe with an RBI fielder’s choice.

“That,” Collins said, “was vintage Dave Hollins.”

Fielder then blooped an RBI single to center for a 4-1 lead, and Shipley singled to right to load the bases and knock out Johnson. Pinch-hitter Garret Anderson greeted reliever Mike Timlin with an RBI single to center, and when Ken Griffey Jr. bobbled the hit, Fielder scored for a 6-1 lead.

Finley did not give up a hit until the fourth, when Edgar Martinez followed a walk to David Segui with a double to right. But Finley fooled Glenallen Hill with an inside curve before striking him out with a fastball. Finley struck out Davis with a nasty forkball to end the inning.

Seattle scored its only run in the sixth when Segui singled to center and Martinez lofted a double over the head of Shipley, who was starting in the outfield for the first time this season.

Segui took third on the hit and scored on Hill’s groundout to make it 1-1. Finley struck out Davis, Dan Wilson reached on an infield single and Rich Amaral walked to load the bases. But Finley caught Cora looking at a fastball on the outside corner to end the inning.