Finley’s 2-Hitter Keeps Angels on Upswing Against Red Sox

He hadn’t been pitching with the precision or command that so often distinguished his starts last season.

And when his pitching shoulder felt a little stiff early in Tuesday night’s game, the odds that Chuck Finley would pitch a two-hit shutout over the Boston Red Sox dropped dramatically.

Yet, there it was, an impressive 3-0 victory at Anaheim Stadium, making Finley the first nine-game winner in the American League and lifting the Angels into second place in the AL West, 1 1/2 games behind Oakland.

“I can’t explain it,” Angel catcher Lance Parrish said, “but I like it.”

Finley walked four and matched his season high with nine strikeouts. He gave up a two-out single to Ellis Burks in the second and an infield hit to Mike Greenwell in the seventh, and ended each of those innings with a strikeout.

The complete game was Finley’s second and enabled him to match Frank Tanana and Bill Singer as the only Angel pitchers with 9-2 records after their first 11 decisions. Finley was 8-3 after 11 decisions last season and finished at 18-9.

“I didn’t really have good velocity at the start of the game, but it came around as the game progressed,” Finley said. “We were just making pitches. Ask those guys (the Red Sox), and they won’t say I was throwing hard.”

But Finley was mixing his fastball and his forkball well, going to the forkball in the middle innings after relying on his fastball in the early going.

The formula worked well enough to delight the crowd of 26,087 and to baffle the Red Sox, whom Finley had one-hit on May 26, 1989, in the lowest-hit game of his career.

“The times I was making good pitches, they were swinging at them, and I was getting ahead of the count,” said Finley, whose earned-run average dropped to 3.26.

“I’m not a power pitcher. Power pitchers are known as guys who throw in the low-to-mid 90s. I’m not a power pitcher in no sense.”

According to Parrish, Finley’s assessment was too modest.

“He’s fortunate to be able to have the best of both worlds. He can be a power pitcher or a finesse pitcher when he has to,” said Parrish, who drove in the Angels’ second and third runs with a bases-loaded single in the fifth off Red Sox left-hander Tom Bolton (5-3).

“If you’re looking for the forkball, Chuck can throw the fastball by you. And if you’re looking for the fastball, he can put it in spots. He just seems to rise to the occasion when he has to. We’ve come to expect nothing less from him.”

Finley expects a lot of himself, too, and has become frustrated this season when he was unable to meet those lofty goals.

“Sometimes I go out and expect to pitch a four- or five-hitter and pitch a 10-hitter,” he said. “A two-hitter is fine, a 10-hitter is fine. Winning is fine, period. There’s a lot to be said for winning at this point.”

Angel Manager Doug Rader was impressed by Finley’s effort, but ranked it second to the left-hander’s 3-2 victory over the Mariners in the season opener.

“The best he’s looked was probably his first start for the simple reason he struggled so badly during spring training and there was so much apprehension going into the season,” Rader said. “Seattle was probably the most relieving win . . . but this one, he was extremely dominant. He got out of whack a couple of times but righted the ship. He was terrific.”

The Angels gave him a run to work with in the third on a double by Dave Gallagher and singles by Luis Sojo and Dick Schofield.

Helped by third baseman Wade Boggs’ throwing error, they added two runs in the fifth. Parrish stroked a 2-and-1 pitch to score Dave Winfield--who had reached on Boggs’ high throw to first--and Dave Parker, who had doubled.

Parrish had two singles and a double to end a six-for-51 slump and put a smile on Rader’s face.

“Lance is a good hitter. The bigger guys are going to seem a lot more erratic than the smaller, contact guys,” Rader said. “But when the year’s over, Lance’s numbers are going to be there.”

FERNANDO: Valenzuela will start Friday night against the Detroit Tigers. C4.