Dave Henderson Powers A’s Past Angels in 11th

Dave Henderson’s double down the left-field line broke an 11th-inning tie and propelled the Oakland A’s to an 8-5 victory over the Angels Tuesday night, but it didn’t break the Angels’ 6spirit.

Henderson’s hit off reliever Scott Bailes (1-1) scored Mike Gallego, who had singled with two out, and Lance Blankenship, who had walked. The A’s scored their final run after the Angels intentionally walked Jose Canseco to get to Harold Baines, who singled to right.

“We just left so many people on base,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said after his club stranded 15 runners, including three in the ninth and two in the 10th. “The whole game boils down to they got the first two-out hit and drove in the first two-out run.

“There’s not a single negative word you can write about these guys. They busted their (tails) for 11 innings. They just didn’t get it done. That’s tonight. The effort is there, the talent’s there. They just couldn’t get one to drop late.”

Henderson’s double gave him a career-best five hits and made a winner of Steve Chitren (1-0), the fifth of six Oakland pitchers. Dennis Eckersley earned his fourth save of the season in preserving the A’s sixth straight triumph.

Henderson stroked Bailes’ three-and-two pitch past Gaetti on the game-winning hit. “I just didn’t get there. It was right down the line,” Gaetti said.

He added, “We had a lot of chances to win. It was a good game. We’re going to win more of these than we’re going to lose.”

Bailes hadn’t given up any earned runs in 13 1/3 exhibition innings and 3 1/3 innings of the season.

The Angels loaded the bases in the ninth, but couldn’t score and had runners on first and third in the 10th, a threat that fizzled when Lance Parrish took a third strike from Chitren.

“We just left so many people on base,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said after his club stranded 15 runners, including three in the ninth and two in the 10th. “The whole game boils down to they got the first two-out hit and drove in the first two-out run.

“There’s not a single negative word you can write about these guys. They busted their (tails) for 11 innings. They just didn’t get it done. That’s tonight. The effort is there, the talent’s there. They just couldn’t get one to drop late.”

The teams presented a contrast in offensive styles, but as different as their methods of scoring runs were, the results were the same through 10 innings.

Oakland relied on home runs and the Angels manufactured their runs slowly.

Henderson’s three-run home run in the fifth against Angel starter Mark Langston capped a five-run Oakland rally and erased the 3-0 lead the Angels had taken on runs in the second, third and fourth innings.

The Angels made rookie Joe Slusarski’s second major league start forgettable. They produced their first run on an error by catcher Jamie Quirk, their second on a double play and finally put some hits together for their third run, in the fourth inning. That lead evaporated when Oakland batted around in the fifth and Henderson hit a two-and-one pitch from Langston into the left-field seats.

The Angels pulled even with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Again, they used more pluck than power, taking advantage of a wild pitch by reliever Reggie Harris, three singles and a double play to tie the score.

Jeff Robinson, who relieved Langston with one out in the fifth, did an impressive job to preserve the tie in the seventh. He walked leadoff hitter Blankenship and gave up a single to Henderson, putting runners on first and third, but he struck out Canseco, Terry Steinbach and Mark McGwire to end the inning.

In the early innings, Langston survived situations that might have rattled him last season. He also helped his cause by beginning a double play in the fourth inning on a sharp ground ball by Steinbach.

The Angels rewarded him with the three runs through four innings, which doesn’t seem like much but was more than they usually gave him last season.

The Angels loaded the bases in the first on a single by Luis Sojo and walks by Wally Joyner and Lance Parrish. But Gary Gaetti, who entered the game with more hits against Oakland (121) than against any other American League team, couldn’t increase that total. He struck out, ending the inning.

The Angels did score in the second. Junior Felix led off with a bunt single up the third-base line and moved to second on Dick Schofield’s single to right-center field. The two then pulled off a double steal, and when catcher Quirk’s attempt to get Felix at third bounced past third baseman Vance Law, Felix scored easily. Schofield made it to third but was stranded there, as Polonia grounded out and Sojo popped to Law.

Gaetti again came up with the bases loaded in the third. He hit into a double play, one run scoring.

Joyner led off with a walk and went to third on Dave Parker’s single to right. Slusarski hit Parrish with a pitch to load the bases and fell behind on Gaetti, who worked the count to three and one. Gaetti then hit a bouncer to shortstop Ernest Riles, who began the double play as Joyner scored from third.

Speed on the bases contributed to the Angels’ third run, in the fourth inning. Schofield led off with a single to left and stole second. He scored on Polonia’s line-single to right, which skidded off the glove of right fielder Canseco’s glove for an error. Polonia went to second.

Slusarski walked Sojo and was replaced by another rookie, left-hander Dana Allison. Allison ended the inning as Joyner flied out to left and Parker flied to right.

Law led off the A’s fifth inning with a double, and after Riles fouled out, Quirk walked. Gallego singled to right-center, scoring Law with the A’s first run. Blankenship singled to center, scoring Quirk, and Gallego and Blankenship scored ahead of Henderson on the Oakland center fielder’s third home run of the season.

Langston remained in the game for one more batter. Canseco hit a sharp grounder to third that Gaetti did well to snare, but his throw to first bounced and pulled Joyner off the bag. Gaetti was charged with an error, his second of the season.