Blyleven Accepts Challenge One Last Time : He Shuts Out Royals, 2-0, and Halts Yet Another Angel Losing Streak

There will be no more Angel losing streaks for Bert Blyleven to stop in 1989, mainly because he has run out of starts and the Angels are running out of season.

But for old times’ sake Thursday night, the Angels made one final request of the Bearded One and sent out one final cry for help.

Needed: An end to a six-game skid that threatened to obliterate all the good done in Anaheim the previous 5 1/2 months.

What We Can Give You: Two runs in nine innings against journeyman pitcher Larry McWilliams.

Did Blyleven accept his assignment?

Does Angels 2, Royals 0 ring a bell?

Having already snapped Angel slumps of five and seven games, along with an assortment of two- and three-game losing streaks, Blyleven provided deliverance again--this time with no pennant at stake, only Angel pride.

And to Angel Manager Doug Rader, that was deliverance enough.

“It’s very, very important to me--and it should be to everyone else associated with this organization--that we finish strongly,” Rader said. “The taste last year left in the mouths of everyone connected with our club . . . the thought of that happening again would almost ruin the whole year, as far as I’m concerned.”

Last year, before Rader and Blyleven arrived on the scene, the Angels careened through 12 losses in their final 12 games, setting a franchise record for most consecutive defeats and raising legitimate questions about team character and fortitude and heart.

The ’89 Angels seemed headed for a similar plunge after losing four games in Cleveland before returning home to lose two more to Kansas City. Entering Thursday night’s game, the Angels had slipped all the way to third in the American League West--seven games behind first-place Oakland and two games behind the second-place Royals.

The Angels had been waiting a week to become the fifth team to win 90 games this season and were starting to wonder if No. 90 was ever going to come.

After failing in their first six chances to move beyond 89 victories, the Angels turned the ball over to Blyleven and Blyleven turned in his fifth shutout of the season at a most opportune time.

The only run he needed came in the first inning, via two singles and a bunt. Devon White led off with a single, was sacrificed to second base by Mark McLemore and was driven home by Chili Davis.

He got a second run when Brian Downing delivered his 14th home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth. Nice, but on this night, with the way Blyleven was pitching, it was needless surplus.

Blyleven pitched a seven-hitter for his eighth complete game of the year, tying him for fourth in the American League with Oakland’s Dave Stewart, Milwaukee’s Chris Bosio and Kansas City’s Mark Gubicza. His five shutouts lead the American League. His 17 victories lead the Angels.

And his .773 winning percentage--Blyleven is 17-5 overall--established a new Angel single-season record among starting pitchers.

Anything else?

Oh, yes, this: With 44 walks in 241 1/3 innings, Blyleven also set another record among Angel pitchers with 200 or more innings in a season, eclipsing Frank Tanana’s old mark of 45 walks in 1980.

“What is he, 17-5 with less than 50 walks in 240-some odd innings?” Rader said, shaking his head. “What’s his ERA?”

Rader was told it was 2.73--Blyleven’s lowest since the 2.72 mark he had in Texas in 1977.

“And Texas in ’77 was the epitome of a pitcher’s ballpark,” Rader added, “so that makes this year even more noteworthy.”

Rader was particularly impressed with Blyleven’s work in the eighth inning, with Kevin Seitzer on second base after a leadoff single and right fielder Dante Bichette’s fielding error.

Still working with a 1-0 lead, Blyleven struck out Matt Winters for the first out. Then, following a discussion with pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, Blyleven also struck out George Brett before retiring Bo Jackson on a ground ball to shortstop.

“I can’t put into words what Bert Blyleven has meant to me and to everybody associated with this ballclub,” Rader said. “I don’t know how to express myself, the gratitude and the sense of accomplishment. Any word I use is going to be trite.”

On this night, the final score would be enough.

Angel Notes

At 22-6, Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen has one more start in which to break the Royals’ club record for most wins in a season, which Saberhagen currently shares with Steve Busby (1974). Win or lose, however, Saberhagen seems a lock to win his second American League Cy Young Award in the past five seasons. The last time Saberhagen won it, in 1985, he was 20-6 with a 2.87 earned-run average. This season, Saberhagen leads the league in wins, earned-run average (2.19), complete games (12) and winning percentage (.786). “I don’t think anyone in the world is going to beat out Saberhagen,” Royal pitching coach Frank Funk said. “If Saberhagen doesn’t win it unanimously, somebody is not very competent in his job.” Saberhagen is scheduled to pitch against Bob Welch (17-8) Saturday afternoon in Oakland.