A Tough Victory for Angels : Baseball: They beat the White Sox, 7-6, after leading 7-2. Chicago leaves bases loaded in ninth inning.

Slowed by the thick, moist grass of the Comiskey Park infield, Scott Fletcher’s chopper landed unexpectedly deep in the pocket of Gary Gaetti’s glove.

The Angel third baseman, on the run with the game on the line, stuck his hand into his glove and, for one nerve-wracking instant, clutched only air.

“Wasn’t nothing going to be easy today,” Gaetti said.

On his second try, Gaetti got a sure grip on the ball and rifled it to first, getting Fletcher by a step for the final, dramatic out in the Angels’ 7-6 victory over the White Sox here Thursday.

Before 31,632 basking in sunshine, the White Sox turned an apparent laugher into a near-nightmare for the Angels.

Led by Luis Polonia’s two hits and three runs batted in and seven solid innings from Kirk McCaskill (5-5), the Angels built a 7-2 lead against Jack McDowell (5-3). Home runs in the eighth inning by Frank Thomas and pinch-hitter Sammy Sosa off Bob McClure gave the crowd a thrill but left the White Sox three runs short. Then Joey Cora and Ozzie Guillen opened the ninth with singles and that lead suddenly wasn’t so safe.

“They just kept coming at us,” said Bryan Harvey, who relieved McClure with runners on first and second and no one out.

Tim Raines singled to right field and scored Cora, cutting the Angels’ lead to 7-5. Then Lance Johnson beat out a perfectly placed bunt in front of the plate, loading the bases. Harvey struck out Robin Ventura, but Thomas flied to right field, Guillen scoring from third base and Raines--representing the potential tying run--taking third.

With Carlton Fisk batting for Sosa with two outs, Angel first baseman Wally Joyner played back, more concerned with the batter than the runner. Allowed a long lead, Johnson stole second uncontested.

Angel Manager Doug Rader conceded it was an unusual move not to keep a closer watch on Johnson, the potential winning run.

“I know if this hadn’t turned out right, there would have been a lot of questions for me,” Rader said after his club’s fourth victory in five games. “The reason why we let (Johnson) go ahead is, we didn’t want Harvey to worry about holding the winning run on, which he isn’t that good at anyway.”

Besides, Harvey had something else on his mind: his inability to hold a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning Tuesday, when the White Sox rallied for two runs and a 6-5 victory.

“I was thinking about it a little bit,” Harvey said of his only blown save in 13 chances and the bullpen’s only blown save in 15 opportunities. “After the first two guys got hits, I thought about it even harder.”

With first base open and a 3-and-1 count, Rader ordered Harvey to walk Fisk to load the bases and bring up Fletcher.

“This is nothing derogatory toward Scotty, but we wanted (Harvey) to face Fletcher,” Rader said. “We didn’t want Fisk to tie us or beat us.”

Harvey got a called strike, a swinging strike and a foul ball before Fletcher hit the grounder to Gaetti.

“I knew he was going to keep taking (pitches) until he got something he could hit,” Harvey said. “I was hoping he would beat one into the ground. . . . I got lucky. I felt a lot better when they called (Fletcher) out at first.”

So did McCaskill, who earned his third consecutive victory.

“Believe me, I was in here yelling at the TV for Gary to throw that ball,” McCaskill said in the Angels’ clubhouse. “He can play.”

As a former third baseman, Rader appreciated the difficulty of the play Gaetti made.

“He went in for the ball and didn’t have a grip, so he had to go in there again,” Rader said. “I’m just glad he didn’t have to go in three times. We’d still be out there.”

The Angels sprinted to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Polonia ended an 0-for-14 slump with a two-run triple, but Chicago pulled even in the bottom of the inning when McCaskill issued two of his three walks.

The Angels, thanks in part to a wild pitch by McDowell, came back with two more runs in the third inning. They made it 5-2 in the sixth when Polonia singled, scoring Donnie Hill. That hit improved Polonia’s batting average with runners in scoring position and two out to .478--11 for 23.

Run-scoring singles by Dave Parker and Hill provided the Angels’ final two runs, but the White Sox weren’t finished until Gaetti’s throw beat Fletcher to the bag.

“When Gaetti double-clutched, I thought we had a chance,” Chicago Manager Jeff Torborg said. “But Gaetti made a good throw.”