Angels Lose in 12th, 5-2 : Baseball: Seattle’s Buhner hits three-run homer that sends Angels tumbling into the cellar in AL West.

Jay Buhner homered for the fourth consecutive game, a three-run shot in the 12th inning Sunday that lifted the Seattle Mariners over the Angels, 5-2.

The Angels, who led the American League West on July 3, fell into last place, 10 games behind Minnesota.

“Everyone’s embarrassed, but it’s not for lack of effort,” said Angels manager Doug Rader, whose team has lost 18 of their past 27. “These are all very proud people, and this kind of thing affects your pride and self-esteem. If you carry an emotion like embarrassment and your pride is damaged, it’s pretty hard to carry a positive emotion.”

Buhner, who came to Seattle from the New York Yankees in a July 1988 trade for Ken Phelps, was in manager Jim Lefebevre’s doghouse prior to the All-Star break, starting in only eight games during May. But the three-day break rejuvenated him, and he is hitting .327 with seven homers and 14 RBIs in his last 15 games.

“I think I’ve been pretty patient up there,” Buhner said. “I’ve been seeing the ball pretty good and I’m just in one of those grooves.”

“Jay was struggling, but everybody felt that--sooner or later--he was going to put it all together,” Lefebvre said. “That’s why we got him. Right now, he’s the right-handed power hitter we’ve been missing and, boy, he’s come up with some big hits for us.”

Mike Fetters (0-3) began the 12th by walking Omar Vizquel and hitting Edgar Edgar Martinez with a pitch. Two outs later, Buhner hit his 20th home run on a 3-2 pitch.

Mike Jackson (6-4) retired Luis Sojo on a fly ball with the bases loaded to end the 11th inning. Mike Schooler pitched the 12th for his third save.

The Angels loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against rookie reliever Calvin Jones, but Luis Polonia grounded into a third base-to-home-to first base double play to end the threat. Dave Gallagher slid wide of the plate to take out catcher Dave Valle, and the two glared at each other nose-to-nose while both benches emptied without a fight ensuing.

“A play like that almost ended my career once, so I wasn’t real pleased about it,” Valle said. “From what I understand from the replay, it was more blatant than I thought at the time. But I know Dave. He plays hard and I’m glad I didn’t know he was that far out of the line.”

Seattle tied it in the seventh against Mark Langston on Harold Reynolds’ sacrifice fly. Wally Joyner hit a two-run homer, his 13th, in the Angel first off Erik Hanson before Ken Griffey Jr. hit an RBI single in the Seattle third.