White Sox Rise in Heat All the Way to Top, 5-2 : Baseball: Victory over Angels moves Chicago past Oakland into AL West lead.

The temperature at Anaheim Stadium soared Wednesday. So did Chuck Finley’s first pitch to leadoff hitter Sammy Sosa, flying far over the center-field fence.

So did the knee-high outside fastball Finley threw to cleanup hitter Ron Kittle, which landed in the left-field bullpen. And the knee-high inside fastball Kittle deposited deep into the left-field seats in the fourth inning.

All of which were the springboard for the Chicago White Sox’s 5-2 victory over the Angels Wednesday, which sent them soaring past the Oakland Athletics and into first place by .004 in the American League West.

“There are a thousand different ways you can look at the way they’re playing,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said after his team was swept in a three-game series for the first time since the New York Yankees accomplished it May 4-6. “The fact is, you have to give them a lot of credit. “They went up to Oakland and swept them and came in and swept us. You can handle it in a number of ways, such as by saying something derogatory that would suggest you’re envious and I wouldn’t want to do that. You have to give them credit for playing excellent baseball and, in all honesty, outplaying us.”

Finley (10-4) had left the park by the time Scott Radinsky saved the victory for Eric King (8-1). Sosa’s first-inning blast was the first Finley allowed in the first inning of a game in 78 career starts, and Chicago’s three home runs were the most the 27-year-old left-hander has allowed in a game.

“He was fighting himself awful hard,” Rader said of Finley, who won his previous six decisions at Anaheim Stadium this season and entered the game with a 2.36 earned-run average, second only to King’s 2.15 in the AL.

“I don’t think he had his very good stuff, but whether it was frustration over not having good stuff or because they were getting base hits off what he considered good pitches, I don’t know. But he was fighting himself pretty good.”

Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said Finley’s stuff “was decent. He’s won with that stuff. . . . The White Sox are very hot right now. Things are going very well for them and they’re playing very good ball.”

Good enough to record consecutive series sweeps on the road for the first time since 1982.

“First place?” Manager Jeff Torborg asked. “So what? What is it, June 27?”

The Angels, 9 1/2 games out, lost for the fourth time in five games.

“Believe it or not, it’s getting too late,” Luis Polonia said. “The second half of the season is coming quick. “It’s not too late--there’s a long way to go--but we’ve got to be able, when we play Oakland (July 23-25), that if we beat them, we’d be in there and not 12 games behind.”

The Angels fell behind Wednesday as early as possible.

King allowed only two singles through five innings and didn’t allow a runner to reach scoring position until the sixth, when Jack Howell singled and Dick Schofield and Polonia drew walks.

That sent Torborg to the mound to see whether King was wilting in the 104-degree heat. “I asked him if he was all right,” Torborg said, “and he said he felt good. I said, ‘If you’re feeling good and you’ve got good stuff, how about throwing the ball over the plate?’ ”

King complied, getting Winfield to ground to the right side and force Polonia at second. He finally yielded to Donn Pall in the eighth and was charged with two runs--which raised his earned-run average to 2.18--but the Angels had squandered their best chance.

“We had to do damage in the sixth inning and we didn’t get it done,” Rader said. “We had to get two or three in the sixth. If we had done that, the opportunity in the eighth would have been even larger. It turned things around. Let me correct that, it failed to turn things around so it was a very pivotal point in the ballgame that we didn’t get it done.”

After going 3-4 on their home stand, the Angels leave today for a 10-game, three-city trip that takes them to the All-Star break.

“We’re not panicking,” Dante Bichette said. “This is a game of streaks, and if we get a streak going we’ll be back in it. It’s a long season and we can’t get too down about this. We’ve got to keep battling.”

Angel Notes

Pitcher Greg Minton, who underwent elbow surgery April 25, refused a rehabilitation assignment to triple-A Edmonton and will instead accompany the Angels on their trip to Cleveland, Toronto and Milwaukee. He will throw simulated games to test his readiness.

The 38-year-old right-hander said he exchanged words with Angel executive Dan O’Brien, who released Minton last winter before he was re-signed as a free agent. Minton said he would have reported to Class-A Palm Springs for a series in Stockton, but, “I don’t see the sense of flying to Canada to pitch three innings.”

Manager Doug Rader said Minton’s decision might not impede his progress. “If he throws the next two times as well as he did today (in a simulated game), it won’t be a problem,” Rader said. “I anticipate that everything will be fine. We just need to make sure and keep an open mind.”

Devon White, out of the starting lineup for four consecutive games because of a strained rib-cage muscle, should be available Tuesday when the Angels open a 10-game trip in Cleveland.