A Little Extra Does It Again for Reggie and the Angels, 5-4

Whatever has gotten into Reggie Jackson lately continues. He hit yet another home run Tuesday night and his defense saved at least three more runs.

Whatever has gotten into Rob Wilfong lately continues. The light-hitting second baseman delivered his second critical extra-base hit in two games.

And whatever has gotten into the Angels during extra-inning games this season continues as they beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4, in 10 innings before an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 27,598.

That makes the Angels 8-1 in overtime games in 1985 and 6-0 at home.

More significantly, that makes the Angels leaders of the American League West by six games--the largest first-place lead the franchise has had in its 25-year existence.

Jackson helped set the stage for the victory by giving the Angels their first run in the first inning on his 14th homer of the season and 517th of his career. And then he took three runs away from the Brewers with outstanding catches in the sixth and 10th innings.

In the sixth, Jackson raced back and slammed into the right-field fence to rob Robin Yount of a potential double with Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper on base. Molitor and Cooper eventually scored, forging a momentary 2-2 tie, but by denying Yount, Jackson was able to prevent the Brewers from taking the lead on Ted Simmons’ ensuing double to center.

Then, in the top of the 10th, with Yount and Simmons on third and second, Paul Householder lofted a dying fly ball to shallow right. Jackson, sprinting in, did a belly-flop and gloved the ball just inches off the turf, nullifying probable runs by Yount and Simmons, who were running on the pitch with two outs.

That brought on the bottom of the 10th, where the .197-hitting Wilfong delivered again. After homering in the Angels’ victory Monday, Wilfong led off the 10th with a slip-and-slide double on which Milwaukee left fielder Yount slipped after losing the ball in the lights and had it roll to the warning track for extra bases.

The next batter, Juan Beniquez, playing with a strained muscle in his left thigh, brought Wilfong home with a single to center, giving the Angels their second straight extra-inning victory. They beat the Brewers, 3-2, in 11 innings Monday night.

This time, Donnie Moore (7-3) earned the win, Rollie Fingers (1-4) took the loss, and the Angels took their unprecedented lead in the AL West.

Buried as minor sub-plots were the continuation of the private home-run derby between Jackson and Ruppert Jones and the continuation of Brian Downing’s recent offensive surge.

Jones equaled Jackson’s home run with a solo blast of his own, his 16th homer of the year, giving the pair seven home runs in the last four games. And Downing contributed a pair of hits, including his fifth home run, which tied the game at 4-4 in the ninth and forced extra innings.

“Reggie and Ruppert are both playing like they’re having a lot of fun,� Manager Gene Mauch said. “Reggie is playing like a young colt.�

Indeed, his outfield play has been an unexpected catalyst for the Angels the past two nights. Jackson saved Monday’s game for the Angels by throwing out Cooper at home--and then saved Tuesday’s with a crash into the wall and a dive onto the grass.

The dive in the 10th was the big one, buying the Angels time for Wilfong and Beniquez to win it.

“I saw the ball come off the bat,� Jackson said, “but it froze me for half a step. I saw that Wilfong couldn’t catch it, and if I didn’t, I’d catch hell from somebody.�

Instead, Jackson simply caught the ball. “In the center of the pocket,� he said.

Yount had it rougher in the bottom of the inning when he stumbled while trying to get a read on Wilfong’s fly to left and let the ball get by him.

“I was lucky again,� Wilfong said. “It was a ‘light ball’--he lost it in the lights--but I’ll take them anytime.

“When you’re hitting .180, life isn’t too good at the ballpark. It’s nice to contribute for a change.�

It was an exciting ending to what Jackson called “a real good game for the fans--and for the players, too, for that matter. We don’t blow people out, we don’t kill people,� he said. “But we play good, solid, fundamental baseball every day.�

Good enough to have the Angels six games ahead in the AL West on the first day of this season’s second half.

Angel Notes

Geoff Zahn threw 50 pitches in a simulated game Tuesday, and Manager Gene Mauch characterized the workout as “very good. He threw carefree, uninhibited, and used all his pitches. He was not as sharp as he’d like to be, but he threw with no apprehension at all.� Mauch said Zahn would undergo two or three similar drills and “by the last week of July or the first of August, he should be all right (to return to the rotation).� . . . Doug DeCinces remained one short of the Angel record for most career appearances by a third baseman (439 by Paul Schaal) as Mauch put Bobby Grich at third and DeCinces as designated hitter for Tuesday night’s game. . . . Here are some 81-game figures on the Angels, in comparison to their 1984 half-season numbers. Biggest gain, batting average--Bob Boone, 51 points (.198 in 1984 to .249 in 1985); Biggest loss, batting average--Rob Wilfong, 86 points (.283 to .197); Biggest gain, home runs--Ruppert Jones, 10 (5 to 15); Biggest loss, home runs--Brian Downing, 7 (11 to 4); Biggest gain, RBIs--Jones, 27 (13 to 40); Biggest loss, RBIs--Downing, 14 (47 to 33). . . . Bobby Grich’s fifth-inning double extended his hitting streak to 11 games. . . . The Angels’ Ron Romanick (9-4) will oppose Ray Burris (4-6) in tonight’s 7:30 series finale.