Doherty Does It Differently : Baseball: Tiger pitcher beats Angels and Langston, 4-2, by using an effective strikeout pitch.

DETROIT — John Doherty isn’t exactly a strikeout pitcher on a level with the likes of Nolan Ryan or Roger Clemens.

After all, in 37 starts before Wednesday night, the Detroit Tiger right-hander had never struck out more than four batters in a game.

He broke out of that rut with seven in the Tigers’ 4-2 victory over the Angels.

“I don’t know what happened,” Doherty (12-11) said. “I had a really good sinker tonight, so I guess that is where it came from.”

Mark Langston (15-7) lost for the second time in nine starts, yielding four runs and eight hits in his sixth complete game.

“You can’t tell me that there is a better lefty in either league,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “You have to be very lucky to get four off that guy.”

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the first off Langston. Tony Phillips led off with a single, and scored on Dan Gladden’s 13th homer.

Alan Trammell led off the fifth with a double, moved up on Langston’s wild pitch, and scored on Chad Kreuter’s sacrifice fly to deep left.

“I’d like to have two pitches back tonight,” Langston said. “The ball to Gladden and the ball to Trammell. I had Trammell down 0-2, and he got the hit.”

Kurt Stillwell led off the eighth with a triple and scored on Luis Polonia’s infield single. Chad Curtis followed with a another infield single. Tim Salmon’s grounder moved both runners up, and Chili Davis’s grounder scored the second run.

Doherty escaped with a 3-2 lead when second baseman Chris Gomez made a leaping catch of J.T. Snow’s line drive.

“That was the only inning where we had a chance, and he held us off,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “His sinking fastball kept our hitters off-balance all night.”