Angels Come Up Short in Long Haul : A 5-4 Loss in 17 Innings Puts Them 3 1/2 Back With 9 Games Left

CLEVELAND —  ‘Tis the season for scoreboard-watching, but the Oakland Athletics had time to shower, take the bus back to their hotel and have a few beers Thursday night before learning they had extended their lead to 3 1/2 games over the Angels.

In fact, a lot of the A’s may not have found out they picked up a game on the Angels until they got up this morning.

Oakland finished off the Twins, 2-1, in Minnesota about the same time the Indians scored four times in the eighth inning at Cleveland Stadium to take a 4-1 lead over the Angels.

But the Angels rallied in the ninth and clung to their hopes another 2 1/2 hours before slipping to a 5-4 defeat in 17 innings before what was left of a crowd of 4,735.

More than five hours after the first pitch, Pete O’Brien led off the bottom of the 17th with a line drive down the right-field line. Claudell Washington slipped trying to field the ball, and O’Brien went all the way around to third for a triple.

Brook Jacoby followed with a fly ball to right field, just deep enough to score pinch-runner Tommy Hinzo, and the longest game in time (5:26) and innings in the American League this season was finally over.

And the Angels’ hopes of catching the A’s in the AL West very well may have ended with it. If Oakland wins five of its remaining 10 games, the Angels must win eight of their last nine just to tie.

“It’s awfully tough to lose any game at this point,” Lance Parrish said, “but it sure didn’t make it easier that Oakland won. We’re in a situation where we can’t afford to lose, so this was an extra-tough loss.”

And this was a game with more ups, downs, twists and turns than any ride at Magic Mountain:

--The Angels twice were one strike away from losing in regulation, but a two-out error by Indian second baseman Jerry Browne on a slow roller by pinch-hitter Jim Eppard extended the inning. Brian Downing followed with a two-run single, and the game was tied, 4-4.

--Cory Snyder’s two-out bunt rolled and rolled and rolled foul in the 16th. Had it stayed fair, Browne would have scored the game-winner.

--Devon White opened the 13th with a single and was picked off first base. Then the Angels stranded runners on second in the 14th, 15th and 16th innings.

--The Indians left runners on first and second in the 10th, had the bases loaded in the 12th and put men on first and third in the 16th.

--The Angels left 11 men on base, the Indians 15.

“There were a lot of things that could have happened the opposite way and didn’t,” Manager Doug Rader said. “We plugged away for what, 17 innings? You’ve got to give our guys a lot of credit.”

Was this the most disappointing defeat of the year?

“After busting our . . . for 17 innings, I’m not prepared to rank anything,” he said.

By the time this one was over, Angel starter Kirk McCaskill’s efforts were hardly more than a footnote. But the right-hander pitched 7 1/3 strong innings, scattering six hits and yielding just one run.

That run came in the eighth, and before Willie Fraser could restore order in the inning, the Indians scored three more times.

McCaskill walked Browne, and Felix Fermin sacrificed. McCaskill, again bothered by cramps in his lower back (he left a game in Texas a month ago with the same problem) was obviously uncomfortable, and Rader summoned relief ace Bryan Harvey.

Harvey, who has battled control problems off and on this season, couldn’t find the plate again on this humid evening. He went 3 and 0 to Joe Carter and walked him. He fell behind Joey Belle, 1 and 0, before giving up a line-drive, run-scoring single that tied the game, 1-1.

Then, on eight pitches, Harvey walked O’Brien to load the bases and Jacoby to bring home the go-ahead run. Fraser came in and yielded a two-run single to Dave Clark, and Cleveland was three outs from a 4-1 victory.

Indian interim manager John Hart brought in reliever Doug Jones, who has 30 saves, to pitch the ninth.

Wally Joyner led off with a high bouncer that glanced off the glove of first baseman O’Brien for a single. Chili Davis lined a single to right field, but the Angels were down to their last out after Washington lined to center and Parrish struck out.

Jones got two strikes on Jack Howell, but the Angel third baseman kept the inning alive with a single to right to score Joyner.

Rader had Eppard bat for Kent Anderson. The game appeared to be over when Eppard hit a slow bouncer to second, but Browne dropped the ball and bobbled it as he tried to pick it up, finally throwing to first just behind the hustling Eppard, and the bases were loaded.

Dick Schofield, out of action with a broken bone in his left hand for a month and a half, came in to run for Eppard. Downing followed with a sharp single to right, but Schofield was out trying for third, and the game was bound for extra innings. Extra, extra innings.

The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for the Indians and ended a four-game winning streak for the Angels.

“We had our chances,” Joyner said. “We just didn’t get the hits we needed. We can still make things go right, though. We’re not going to close up shop. We get to play again tomorrow.”

Actually, he should have said “today.” But in any case, the Angels’ tomorrows are getting fewer and fewer.

Angel Notes

Johnny Ray was back in the lineup Thursday night, replacing Mark McLemore at second base, after McLemore started four consecutive games. McLemore was five for 18 in those four games--all Angel victories--but he was hitless in five at-bats Wednesday night, hitting into two double plays. He also was picked off first base. Ray was reprimanded by Manager Doug Rader for not running out a pop-up on Sept. 9, but Rader said that transgression had nothing to do with his decision to go with McLemore. “I wouldn’t co-mingle those two events,” Rader said. “I’m not going to let something like that carry over for more than a week. I’m not that kind of person. One guy looked tired, and the other guy was doing a helluva job. That’s all there is to it. I don’t know why we’re over-analyzing this. Johnny Ray looked to me like he was very tired. Hopefully, he’s got some bounce back.” Rader had said that he didn’t want to tinker with a winning combination, but Thursday he decided to go back to Ray, who led the team with a .295 batting average going into Thursday night’s game. “Johnny Ray is one of the guys who got us here,” Rader said. “If he sits too long, it might take him too long to get his stroke back.” Ray was hitless in seven at-bats.

Shortstop Dick Schofield, out of action since Aug. 11 after being hit in the left hand by a pitch from Scott Bankhead, was activated Thursday night. Schofield had X-rays taken and was examined by Cleveland orthopedist Dr. James Culver Thursday. “He’s active but the chance of him playing in a ballgame anytime in the next few days is remote,” Rader said before the game. But when the Angels rallied in the ninth, Schofield was used as a pinch-runner and stayed in the game at shortstop.