Angels’ Extra Effort Beats A’s : Baseball: After losing a four-run lead, Dave Winfield’s bases-loaded single in the 12th inning downs Oakland, 6-5.

Tired of losing six-run leads to the A’s, the Angels tried a new approach Saturday.

They squandered a four-run lead.

But this time, they managed to come back and beat Oakland at 6-5 in 12 innings.

Despite a 5 1/3-inning effort by rookie right-hander Joe Grahe, who was summoned from Triple-A Edmonton to replace scheduled starter Bert Blyleven, Oakland’s potent offense nearly carried the day. The A’s rallied for three runs in the sixth to knock Grahe out of the game and disappoint a season-high crowd of 52,774 at Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels had built a 5-1 lead after four innings, but, as they discovered when they couldn’t protect 6-0 leads last week in Oakland and Friday at home, no lead is ever safe against the A’s. Walt Weiss led Oakland’s offense with three RBIs, compensating for the four-strikeout night endured by Jose Canseco. Luis Polonia drove in three runs for the Angels with a bases-loaded triple in the fourth.

The Angels, who had lost seven of their previous eight games against the A’s, were trying to avoid dropping 17 games out of first place and falling six games under .500 for the first time since they were 17-23 on May 22. The A’s were attempting to keep their lead over the Chicago White Sox at 3 1/2 games.

Grahe (pronounced gray) gave up four runs, three of them earned. Cliff Young gave up the tying run in the eighth. Grahe, who last pitched Monday for the Trappers against the Dodgers’ Albuquerque farm club, started Saturday because Blyleven was at home with his family after his wife, daughter and two of his sons were injured in a car accident. It was Blyleven’s first missed start since September, 1983, when he was with Cleveland.

The Angels stirred in the 11th inning when Dave Winfield had a leadoff double off Todd Burns for the 2,498th hit of his career, but he was stranded there.

Grahe’s first major league pitch was a strike, but the next four were balls, putting Rickey Henderson on first. Henderson stole his 919th base--19 behind all-time leader Lou Brock--on the first pitch to Carney Lansford and went to third when the throw by catcher Lance Parrish hit him and rolled into left field. He scored when Lansford grounded to second.

Before the game, Manager Doug Rader had praised Grahe’s composure, and Grahe displayed the poise of a veteran by getting out of that inning by striking out Canseco and Dave Henderson. A double play in the second eased him out of that inning, and he got into the act in third on a rundown that followed Rickey Henderson’s double. Henderson prolonged it enough for Lansford to take second, but Grahe ended the A’s hopes by striking out Canseco for the second time.

The Angels had runners on base in each of the first three innings but couldn’t score. They finally got to Mike Moore in the fourth, taking a 5-1 lead.

Devon White led off with a triple over Canseco’s head in right, Winfield walked. Lee Stevens singled up the middle, scoring White and sending Winfield to third. Winfield scored on Johnny Ray’s single to center. Stevens tagged and took third on Parrish’s fly to center. Anderson walked, loading the bases, and, after Dick Schofield struck out, Polonia lined an 0-and-2 pitch into the right-field corner, clearing the bases.

When Canseco’s throw hopped away from the cutoff man, first baseman Mark McGwire, Polonia sped home. McGwire fired the ball to catcher Ron Hassey, whose tag on Polonia was in time, according to home plate umpire Terry Cooney, but too late according to Polonia, the fans and Rader. Their dissent--and televised replays that showed Polonia might have gotten his foot on the plate before the tag--didn’t change Cooney’s decision.

Grahe was in complete control until the sixth, when the A’s scored three times to cut the Angels’ lead to 5-4. Doubles by Dave Henderson and Felix Jose sandwiched around a walk to McGwire--his third walk of the game--produced one run, and Weiss’ single to right scored McGwire and Jose. That brought pitching coach Marcel Lachemann to the mound, and when he left, Grahe left with him. The crowd of 52,774 gave Grahe a round of applause as he departed.

Mike Gallego lined a single to center on Young’s first pitch, moving Weiss to third, but Young got out of the inning by striking out Rickey Henderson and getting Lansford to ground to second.

Young couldn’t hold off the A’s in the eighth, when they tied the game and deprived Grahe of a chance to earn his first major-league victory. McGwire led off with a walk and Lance Blankenship ran for him. Jose bunted him to second and he scored on Weiss’ single to left.

A fine defensive play by second baseman Gallego prevented the Angels from scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth off Rick Honeycutt. Winfield had walked and taken third on Stevens’ single, and he seemed sure to score when Ray hit a hard grounder to the right side. Gallego dived, knocked the ball down and threw to first to end the inning.

Angel Notes

The Angels purchased the contract Joe Grahe from Triple A Edmonton early Saturday, and he signed a major-league contract in Manager Doug Rader’s office at about 4:45 p.m. after arriving from Las Vegas. To make room for him, catcher Ron Tingley was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of tendinitis in his right hand. . . . Grahe was 1-0 in three starts for Edmonton with a 1.46 earned-run average in 24 2/3/ innings. He began the season with Double A Midland, where he was 7-5 with a 5.14 ERA. Rader said the 6-foot, 185-pound right-hander has two speeds on his fastball, a changeup and a “slurve,” or hybrid slider-curve. “We looked whose turn it was to pitch and it was Grahe,” said Rader, who also considered having reliever Willie Fraser start Saturday. “There were a number of positive reasons, one being he’s got the ability to get the job done. That’s really the most important.” . . . Tingley said he could have played with the pain in his hand, but the need to have a starter and the chance for him to rest dictated the move.

Scheduled starter Bert Blyleven was excused to be with his family while his wife, daughter and two sons recuperate from injuries they sustained in a car accident Thursday. On Saturday, Blyleven’s wife, Patty, was released from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange and son Tommy was released from Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Another son, Tim, was released from CHOC on Friday. Daughter Kimberly, 16, was expected to be released from CHOC today.

Bob McClure believes his elbow is fully healed after pitching two perfect innings for Class A Palm Springs Friday. “(Saturday) was big for me, to come to the park and not have any stiffness. That was the test,” he said. “I just have to work two or three days in a row. I’d like to be able to come off (the disabled list) Thursday or Friday but I don’t know what their plans are.”