A Screeching Halt to Abbott’s Streak

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —  A triple play here, a triple play there, and hey--who knows?--maybe Angel pitcher Jim Abbott escapes two early inning jams against the Kansas City Royals Friday night.

But unlike Sunday’s game, when a rare twin-plus-one killing helped Abbott win for the first time in four months, his teammates couldn’t bail him out of this mess.

The Royals turned bases-loaded, no-out situations in the second and third innings into six runs en route to an 8-2 victory over the Angels in front of 13,083 in Kauffman Stadium, ending Abbott’s win streak at one and throwing the left-hander back into the dreaded self-analysis mode.

Only this time, there was hardly a hint of defeat in Abbott’s voice. He gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings to fall to 2-16, but he didn’t feel nearly as bad as he did back in May, June and July, when Abbott was in such disarray he could barely throw a strike.

“I know this sounds funny, but I felt more aggressive and actually felt better than I did Sunday,” Abbott said, comparing Friday to his 4-2 victory over Minnesota. “I just left a few breaking balls up in the strike zone that they hit hard.”

Still, this wasn’t exactly progress. Abbott walked four--the first walks he has issued since returning Sept. 3 from triple-A Vancouver.

He did not pitch tentatively in tight spots. He did not nibble at corners with runners on base or bounce pitches in front of the plate. He attacked batters, and winning pitcher Tim Belcher noticed a distinct improvement in Abbott’s velocity.

But his pitch selection and location left much to be desired, and he gave up five singles and a wild pitch in the four-run third.

And this wasn’t exactly the Cleveland Indians Abbott was facing. The Royals rank last in the American League in runs and homers, and Friday night’s lineup featured a No. 3 batter (Chris Stynes) with no homers and five runs batted in.

“He made good pitches in the [scoreless] first inning, and then I don’t know what happened,” pitching coach Joe Coleman said of Abbott, who is 4-12 lifetime against the Royals. “He said he felt fine, but all of a sudden I thought he was aiming the ball a bit. His velocity went down, and so did the sharpness of his pitches.”

Kevin Young had a two-run single in the second, and Joe Vitiello keyed the third with a two-run single. A walk and Roderick Myers’ double ended Abbott’s evening in the sixth, and both runners scored on David Howard’s double off Jason Grimsley.

Belcher, a free-agent acquisition who signed a two-year extension with the Royals Thursday, gave up 10 hits but only two runs in seven innings to improve to 14-9. The Angels, no doubt, wish they would have pursued the right-hander a little harder last winter.

Seven hits produced only three Angel runs in the first three innings, and the Angels managed three singles the rest of the way, their offense as stagnant as a muggy Midwest summer day.

“I should have bought a ticket to the game,” said John McNamara, who returned as Angel manager Friday. “I didn’t have anything to do.”

The Angels, 1-7 on this trip, have lost five consecutive games, 14 of 18, and were mathematically eliminated from the wild-card race Friday, a development that soured even super-upbeat utility player Rex Hudler.

“This has been the worst ever,” Hudler said.