Angels Get Relief in a 7-4 Win

As if an ordinary, run-of-the-mill rout wasn’t good enough, the Angels decided to make Sunday’s 7-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles more interesting than it had a right to be.

Thank Mike Witt, that jokester, for providing the theatrics.

For eight innings, Witt (5-4) teased the Orioles and an Anaheim Stadium audience of 47,408 with his usual assortment of curveballs and what not. He allowed just six hits, including a solo home run by John Shelby in the third inning, and quelled the lone potential Oriole rally in the fourth before placing his arm on cruise control. At one point, he retired 12-of-14 batters as easily as one flicks away a piece of lint.

Meanwhile, George Hendrick homered in the second inning and Wally Joyner hit his 17th in the sixth to give Witt a 2-1 lead that was extended to 7-1 when the Angels scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth. Thank you notes can be addressed to Brian Downing (an RBI double), Bobby Grich (a two-run single) and the newly arrived Jack Howell (a two-run double).

Then came the top of the ninth and suddenly Witt, who waltzed through most of the Oriole order during the afternoon, was serving home-run pitches as if it were batting practice.

“You can never sit on a lead with those guys,” said Grich, who used to play for the Orioles. “They can come out of nowhere to score six runs before you know what happened.”

First came a single by ex-Angel Juan Beniquez and a homer by Mike Young. When Shelby hit Witt’s first pitch for his second home run of the day, the Angels’ lead was down to three runs. Pinch-hitter Larry Sheets snuck a single past Grich into center field and that was it for Witt, who was replaced by Doug Corbett. Witt angrily walked to the dugout, grabbed his warm-up jacket and retreated to the Angel locker room.

Angel coaching charts showed 143 pitches (98 strikes, 45 balls) by Witt. By the ninth inning, though, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said Witt’s velocity had dropped. “But he pitched like hell to keep us in a 2-1 game,” Lachemann said.

Said Manager Gene Mauch: “It looked like Michael was going to breeze it. I probably let him throw too many pitches.”

Corbett, who hadn’t pitched since the previous Sunday, gave up a single to Alan Wiggins, then got Lee Lacy to hit into a double play. That made two out with Sheets on third, Cal Ripken at the plate and Eddie Murray on deck as the tying run.

Corbett, after doing a somersault when he stepped in a hole while walking Ripken, knocked down Murray’s sharp grounder and threw him out to end the game. Corbett celebrated his fifth save by pumping his arm and knocking off his hat.

“I’m very involved in my pitching,” he said. “(The arm pump) is kind of a mental release.”

Mauch probably wouldn’t care if Corbett did a handstand, just as long as the Angels held on. The Angels are 24-25 and one-half game behind the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers in the AL West.

After Sunday home games, Mauch usually hurries out of his office to his car for the 104-mile drive to his Palm Springs home. “Got to go pick up my mail,” he said. Victories help. “The mailbox isn’t quite as far,” he said.

Among the thoughts that should have made the journey more enjoyable for Mauch were Joyner’s homer and a bunt single that slipped past starter Scott McGregor and died in front of first baseman Murray. “Wally Joyner played big ball, little ball,” Mauch said.

It was Joyner’s first two-hit game and first home run since last Monday. He entered Sunday’s game against the Orioles with just 6 hits in his last 31 at-bats and a tendency to struggle against left-handers.

But Oriole pitching seems to help. Joyner is 9 for 20 (.450) against Baltimore. And on Sunday, he got his two hits against the left-handed McGregor, who normally masters the Angels (18-7 career).

“It’s just a matter of me not being as sharp as I was in the beginning, maybe, or it might be I was just missing the pitches or what not,” Joyner said.

“But I really don’t want to talk about what’s been going on. I feel like questions of, ‘Are you ready to go back in a slump?’ or ‘Are you ready for the slump when it comes?’ I don’t need to hear. Maybe that had something to do with the way I was swinging. I think New York had a lot to do with it, trying to do too hard against left-handers. I feel good against right-handers and hopefully I always will. I felt like I had to adjust against the left-handers and I found out I don’t have to.”

As for the media attention, Joyner said it is beginning to lessen, which is fine with him.

“Gene (Mauch) and I talked yesterday and both came to the conclusion that if I slip down to about .280, maybe everybody will forget about me for a while and I can sneak back up and start playing good ball again.”

Sunday’s win was a start. For Joyner. For the Angels.

Angel Notes

Doug DeCinces, who is playing with a second-degree left-shoulder separation, found himself as the Angel designated hitter Sunday. It marks the first time DeCinces has been used as a designated hitter this season. He hasn’t fared well as a DH (1 for 14, .171 in 1985; 18 for 83, .217 in career). Meanwhile, Jack Howell playedthird base again Sunday. Said DeCinces: “My option is to play today and get a (cortisone) shot after the game.” DeCinces got the shot and will miss at least tonight’s game against the Yankees. . . . . When Oriole Eddie Murray grounded out with two out and two men on base in the ninth Sunday, it extended an unlikely streak. Murray has gone 545 games without hitting a ninth-inning homer. His last one was in 1982. . . . . Gary Lucas will throw on the sidelines today and test his injured back once again. “Sometimes I say, ‘Just suck up all this pain,’ but I know the degree of pain I have and it doesn’t allow me to throw strikes consistently.” Lucas has tried acupuncture, cortisone shots, rest and physical therapy for his back. . . . . A pregame ceremony honoring Reggie Jackson is scheduled tonight. Mickey Mantle will present Jackson with a trophy commemorating Jackson’s 537th home run, a homer which moved him ahead of Mantle on the all-time list. . . . Long after Sunday’s game ended, Bob Boone retired to the Angel bullpen batting cage for extra work with hitting coach Moose Stubing. Boone went 0 for 3 Sunday (1 for his last 20) to lower his average to .212. . . . With Sunday’s victory, the Angels are 4-12 against left-handers. . . . Wally Joyner’s ninth-inning bunt single gives him four, and the team lead.

Angel Attendance

Sunday’s attendance 47,408 1985 (23 dates) 740,221 1986 (23 dates) 729,035 Decrease 11,186 1986 average per date 32,184