Rader So Hot He’s Ejected : Angels: Manager thrown out after arguing call in ninth inning of team’s 9-4 loss to Tigers.

The first-base umpire retreated, and Doug Rader followed him. Durwood Merrill stepped onto the right-field grass, and Rader, the Angel manager, stepped behind him.

Rader hounded and danced, arguing Merrill’s call on Wally Joyner’s attempt to tag Tony Phillips after he rounded first base in the ninth inning of the Angels’ 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers Saturday night before 50,527 at Anaheim Stadium.

With Merrill’s every sidestep, Rader countered, and he was finally ejected.

If only the Angels showed such tenacity in chasing the Oakland Athletics.

By the time of the first pitch, American League West-leading Oakland already had lost, and the Angels had a chance to move as close to the Athletics as they have been since their season was 24 games old.

The Angels only had to win to move to 7 1/2 games back, and they only had to beat Detroit, which had not won at Anaheim since July of 1988, losing nine in a row. Rader had gone out to argue with Merrill in the second inning when Devon White was called out on a grounder to second that would have loaded the bases.

In the ninth, Phillips singled to right, and Dick Schofield cut off the throw trying to get Lou Whitaker at third. Instead, he threw to Joyner, who swiped at Phillips as he headed back to the bag after rounding first. Joyner reacted angrily to the call, and out came Rader.

“When there’s a play and your player or coach has a certain reaction, you have to back them up,” Rader said. “That’s all I was doing.”

The Angels, missing a chance to go four games over .500, wasted two solo home runs by Chili Davis, his eighth and ninth homers of the season.

What hurt the Angels the most was an error in center field by White that allowed a run to score, and a bases-loaded walk by Willie Fraser.

Instead of progressing, the Angels remain 8 1/2 games back in third place.

The last time they were 7 1/2 back was May 5, when they were in sixth place with a 10-14 record.

The Angels’ failure to gain ground was not the only familiar refrain of the night.

Jim Abbott, the Angel starter, lasted only 4 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits, and extending a winless streak at Anaheim Stadium that stretches to last July.

Abbott (4-6) fell behind, 2-0, in the second on an infield hit, a single, a double by Lloyd Moseby, and a groundout.

In seven starts at home this season, Abbott is 0-4. His last victory in Anaheim came 11 months ago, on July 27 of last season.

“I think I might have tried to do too much in certain situations, trying to make the perfect pitch,” Abbott said. The Angels trailed only 3-2 after four innings, but the game began to get away in the fifth, on White’s error and Fraser’s bases-loaded walk to Scott Lusader, the first batter he faced after relieving Abbott.

White’s error was similar to one on June 15 in Detroit, when he mishandled a ball and allowed the first run to score in a 2-1 loss.

This time, with John Shelby on first after a single, Phillips singled to center. White headed for the ball off the bounce, but ran past it, allowing Shelby to score.

It turned out to be one of many runs. Detroit did not lack for offense, but for the sixth consecutive game, it did not get a homer from the most likely source in the major leagues--Cecil Fielder.

Fielder, who singled once in four at-bats, has not added to his 25 home runs since Sunday, when he hit a monumental shot off the Angels’ Chuck Finley at Tiger Stadium. The six-game stretch without a homer equals his longest such streak of the season.

Detroit starter Jeff Robinson (6-5) left the game with a 6-3 lead and two out in the sixth after Davis hit his second homer and Lance Parrish followed with a single.

He allowed three runs on seven hits.

Angel Notes

Angel reliever Scott Bailes, struck on the left forearm by a ball hit by Lou Whitaker in the ninth, is day-to-day with a bruised forearm. X-rays were negative. . . . The Angels’ 1-0 victory Friday night on Dave Winfield’s run-scoring triple in the ninth inning marked the sixth time this season they have won in their final at-bat. It was also the fifth time in six games against Detroit in Anaheim Stadium that the Angels have won by one run.

Infielder Mark McLemore will have the cast removed from his sprained right wrist for it to be examined Monday. McLemore, on the 21-day disabled list since June 8 after re-spraining the wrist during a rehabilitation assignment with triple-A Edmonton, said he will not try to play until he is confident it is healed. “I’m not going to rush it,” said McLemore, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with the injury May 17. “I’m not going to try to play with it like I did before and re-injured it. This is something that has to be 100%. If I fall on it or dive for a ball--you can’t do that.” He has played in only 20 games, fewer than any non-pitcher except shortstop Dick Schofield, who has played 15.