Angel Power Pump Primed by Polonia : Baseball: His homer ends team’s 11-game slump without one in 5-4 victory over Orioles.

Luis Polonia claimed his third-inning home run against the Orioles Tuesday shamed his power-hitting teammates into finding their long-lost home run strokes.

“I come back to the dugout and I say, ‘Now that the big guys aren’t hitting, let me show them how to hit some,’ ” the Angel left fielder said. “They forgot how to hit home runs for a while. I broke that.”

Once Polonia ended the team’s 11-game homerless streak, Dave Winfield and Gary Gaetti added homers that helped end the Angels’ three-game losing streak. An eighth-inning grand slam by Randy Milligan against reliever Bryan Harvey created some nervous moments for the Angels, but their 5-4 victory at Memorial Stadium boosted confidence that was shaken during their 3-7 home stand.

“It would have been very disappointing if we didn’t win today, the first game of the trip,” said Polonia, who hit a 1-and-2 pitch from Ben McDonald (4-4) into the left-field seats for his first homer of the season and the 12th of his career.

“We were saying we just needed to get away from home because we weren’t playing good there, and if we lost today, it would have been very hard to face.”

Before Tuesday, McDonald had faced the Angels twice this season and had given up one earned run in 15 innings. But he gave up one in the first inning on a walk to Wally Joyner and singles by Winfield and Dave Parker. Polonia’s leadoff homer in the third gave Jim Abbott (8-7) a two-run lead, and the Angels made the score 4-0 in the fifth on Winfield’s first homer since July 6 and Gaetti’s first since June 23. A double by Joyner and single by Parker in the seventh provided the final run.

“If you think Gary Gaetti and Dave Winfield aren’t going to hit homers in the same game, that’s not inexplicable,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “Luis breaking the streak, that’s inexplicable.”

Polonia explained his success as inevitable. “I know what kind of power I have,” he said with a straight face before quickly dissolving into laughter. “It was a nice feeling. For the first time, I saw (third base coach) Bobby Knoop waving me all the way home. I was going for a triple. I thought it was another triple.”

Abbott, who had two losses and a no-decision in his last three starts, thought it best to exit after seven innings because of tenderness in his pitching elbow. Never eager to pitch in hot weather because perspiration complicates the transfer of his glove to his left hand for fielding and back to his right arm to throw, Abbott pitched in temperatures that reached 97 degrees at game time. Still, he matched his season-high with seven strikeouts and gave up only five hits, all singles.

“Luis Polonia hit a home run, and he certainly wasn’t the one you would expect to do it, and scoring the first run lifts the burden a little bit because after that, all you have to do is hold the team in it,” said Abbott, who didn’t win his eighth game last season until Aug. 14.

“I felt pretty strong. I felt like I was hitting the spots I wanted to. I’ve been pitching with my elbow this way for a while. It’s a little tendinitis, and it only causes stiffness tonight and tomorrow. It’s gone the day after that. I was tempted to stay in there, but sometimes you’ve got to be sensible. You’ve got to think of the long term.”

The Orioles almost prolonged the game with an eighth-inning flurry against Mark Eichhorn and Harvey. Eichhorn got two groundouts before giving up singles to Mike Devereaux and Chito Martinez and hitting Cal Ripken on the foot with a pitch. Harvey came in to face Milligan, who hit a 2-and-1 fastball over the fence in left-center field.

That scare explained why Harvey emphatically pumped his fist for the “out” sign on Sam Horn’s double-play grounder in the ninth inning before first base umpire Ed Hickox had time to give a sign. David Segui had reached on Luis Sojo’s error, but the slow-footed Horn killed the Orioles’ comeback hopes.

“I was pretty excited. I was scuffling there,” Harvey said after getting his 23rd save. “It wasn’t pretty, but we won. Well, it was pretty for the first seven.”

It was also a pretty satisfying way for the Angels to start their 10-game, four-city trip, Winfield said.

“We did a little bit of everything today, things we haven’t been doing,” he said. “We got the key hits, drove in two or three runs, and got some homers, and Abbott continued to pitch very well. Very, very well. I’m glad we were able to hold onto this one.”