White’s Catch Above Fence Gets Angels Off the Hook

CHICAGO — Center field in Comiskey Park can be a lonely place, especially when you’re standing there in the 11th inning of a game you could have personally ended so much sooner.

All by himself, the Angels’ Devon White had plenty of quiet time to mull over his transgressions of Thursday evening--the bad throw that led to two Chicago White Sox runs in the seventh inning, the misjudged fly ball that wiped out a one-run Angel lead in the bottom of the 10th.

The silence was suddenly shattered by the sound of Steve Lyons’ bat sending a baseball over the center-field wall. Another Angel lead was about to disintegrate, setting the stage for yet another inning, when White drifted back to the fence, leaped into the fence and took a stab at the ball with his glove.

In an instant, the potential game-tying home run was turned into the first out of the inning. White returned to earth with the ball somehow wedged in the webbing of his mitt. Redemption in the 11th. Two outs later, White and the Angels walked off the field with something more--a 7-6 victory, their second extra-inning win in as many days, and sole possession of third place in the American League West.

After outlasting the Oakland Athletics, 9-8, in 12 innings Wednesday, the Angels flew to Chicago and embarked on another extra-inning odyssey. This one took them through a pair of home runs by Brian Downing, including the game-winner in the top of the 11th. It also took them through a two-run home run by the just-reactivated Carlton Fisk, five White Sox pitchers and two more innings by Angel reliever Donnie Moore before the outcome was determined.

The Angels, 16 games below .500 on June 15, had moved past Kansas City into third place in the AL West at 50-51.

And August remains three days away.

This Angel comeback is nearly as startling as the catch that culminated the latest chapter. By robbing Lyons with his above-the-fence grab, White helped clinch the Angels’ 26th victory in their last 37 games.

“Awesome, man,” Moore said of White’s catch. “Perfect timing. We’d probably still be playing if he doesn’t get that ball.”

Then again, had White played two other balls differently in earlier innings, that catch never would have seen the light of the nightly news here.

Due in part to White’s eighth home run of the season in the fifth inning, the Angels took a 5-3 lead into the seventh. With reliever Greg Minton pitching, the White Sox had Ozzie Guillen on first base and none out when Gary Redus singled to center.

Guillen rounded second base and broke for third. White scooped up the ball and fired to third.

The result was a one-hopper that glanced off Guillen and bounded past Angel third baseman Jack Howell into the Chicago dugout. White was charged with an error, Guillen was waved home and Redus was awarded third base.

One out later, Redus scored on a single by Harold Baines, and the game was tied, 5-5.

It stayed that way until the top of the 10th, when Dick Schofield hit a one-out triple off Carl Willis and scored on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter George Hendrick. The Angels led again, 6-5, and that advantage was handed to Moore, who had worked the last two innings of Wednesday’s victory over Oakland.

Admittedly fatigued, Moore sandwiched a pair of outs around a single to Fred Manrique and a passed ball by catcher Darrell Miller. That brought up Guillen, who lauched a high fly ball to left-center field.

White, playing in to begin with, shaded in a bit more--advancing when he should have been retreating. By the time White reversed his gears, the ball was over his head and Guillen had a game-tying triple.

“I misjudged it,” White said. “I took a step in because I didn’t think Guillen hit it that well. But it just kept carrying and carrying.

“It ticked me off,” he added. “It makes me mad whenever a ball goes over my head and stays in the park.”

The score was tied again, 6-6.

Then Downing untied it. Downing, who hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh, delivered a solo shot in the 11th, giving him his 16th homer of the season--and the Angels another one-run lead.

This time, White protected it, going above and beyond the call of duty--and the Comiskey Park fences--to track down Lyons’ drive.

Again, White initially misread the ball.

“I was playing Lyons straight up,” he said, “and I didn’t think he hit it well at all. That probably would have been caught on the warning track in Anaheim.”

But the ball kept sailing . . . and so did White. “I wanted to redeem myself,” he said.

Consider it done. A day earlier, White had sprawled on Anaheim grass to deny Carney Lansford of extra bases--a sensational diving catch--but Thursday’s play received even higher marks from Angel Manager Cookie Rojas.

“This one had more of an effect,” Rojas said. “It saved a ballgame.”

And White’s self-appraisal?

“I don’t rate ‘em,” White said. “I just make the plays and they’re over. I just didn’t want the game to go another 12 innings.”

Angel Notes

Chuck Finley worked the first six innings Thursday, yielding four runs on seven hits and two walks. “Finley threw a good game, especially after coming back from the flu,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said. “He had good velocity and got himself back on track. Actually, he should have won the game.” And Finley might have, too, if Carlton Fisk hadn’t picked Thursday to end a 78-day stint on the disabled list. The 40-year-old Fisk, making his first appearance since May 10, when a foul tip broke a bone in his right hand, doubled and homered in two at-bats against Finley. The home run, coming in the fourth inning with Dave Gallagher on base, gave Chicago a temporary 3-2 lead. . . . Wally Joyner had his second consecutive three-hit game--three singles this time--to raise his batting average to .295. . . . Gallagher, the White Sox center fielder, also had three hits, giving him three three-hit outings in his last four starts.