Finley Ks Four In Inning

Manager Terry Collins finally got a glimpse of the Anaheim Angels he expected to see on the field all season.

The Angels won their first series in over a month as Chuck Finley became the first pitcher to strike out four batters in an inning twice in a career and Anaheim hit four home runs to beat the Detroit Tigers 10-2 Sunday.

"This is a good baseball team and we showed in this series, even the night we got beat, that we're a better team than we've shown through the summer," Collins said.

"We've been missing pieces and they're not all necessarily firing at once. But I know one thing, when we get a couple of guys swinging, this is a good baseball team. Hopefully we'll continue to play the game the right way."

The left-hander, who fanned four in the third inning May 12 against the Yankees, did it again in the first inning Sunday.

After Kimera Bartee led off with an infield single, Finley struck out Deivi Cruz and Juan Encarnacion. Dean Palmer then fanned but reached first on a wild pitch before Tony Clark struck out to end the inning. All four strikeout victims went down swinging.

"You take 'em any way you can get 'em," Finley said. "It's kind of hard to explain it to somebody that hasn't watched it before. You tell 'em you struck out four in one inning they go `I thought there were only three outs in one inning.' Well there is, but sometimes you have to get another one."

Anaheim, which hadn't won a series since July 9-11 at Colorado, scored 24 runs in three games at Tiger Stadium after totaling 11 in their previous six.

"All we're trying to do is make the next six weeks as productive as possible," Collins said. "I saw some real bright things this entire series, and not necessarily all offensively. We had guys hustling and going after balls in the outfield and making tough plays. That shows their heart's still in it and that's all we can ask."

The Tigers lost for the 14th time in 18 games as their major league-worst record slid to 46-71.

"We didn't pitch very well the last couple of days," Tigers manager Larry Parrish said. "We won the first game and then we couldn't keep them from having a big inning."

Finley (7-10), who stayed with the Angels despite many rumors he'd move before the July 31 trading deadline, struck out a season-high 12 en route to his second straight win. He allowed two runs on six hits in 6 2-3 innings.

"My mind's freed up a little more," Finley said. "I never gave up on the season as far as what I wanted to do. I was going to end up with some respectable numbers some way or another. With eight or 10 more starts to go, I'm going to try to turn this thing around and get back on the top side of it."

Justin Thompson (9-11) gave up nine hits and seven runs six earned in five innings. He has lost his last three decisions and has a 9.82 ERA in four starts since his last win on July 21 against Kansas City, and Parrish said the left-hander might sit down for a while.

"I just think right now that when he came out today he was pretty mentally beat up," Parrish said. "He feels right now he's not giving himself a chance to win because he doesn't feel like he knows where the ball's going."

Thompson agreed he might need time to clear his head.

"I'm tired of myself going out there and just not knowing which J.T.'s going to show up," Thompson said.

Glaus' 20th homer highlighted the Angels' four-run first. Salmon walked and came around when Mo Vaughn hit a 440-foot double to the base of the wall in center before Glaus homered to left. Jim Edmonds walked and was going to stop at third on Greene's double, bucame home on Gabe Kapler's fielding error in right field.

The Tigers got one back on Encarnacion's RBI groundout after singles from Bartee and Cruz in the third.

But in the fourth, Greene led off with his 20th home run. Following Trent Durrington's single, Anderson hit his 17th homer off the facing of the third deck in right to put the Angels up 7-1.

Salmon hit his 10th homer, a three-run shot, off Willie Blair in the ninth.

Kapler tripled and scored on Cruz's groundout in the fifth.

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