Angels Hold On to Victory : Baseball: After falling behind by seven runs in first inning, Blue Jays’ rally falls short, 10-9.

ANAHEIM — Injections of novocain, intended to numb the pain of dental work, ensured that Tom Candiotti felt no pain Monday.

His teammates only wished they could say the same.

The frustration of Toronto’s 10-9 loss to the Angels at Anaheim Stadium seeped through the visiting clubhouse as the Blue Jays rued the loss of an opportunity to gain ground on the Red Sox in the AL East.

Knowing Boston had already lost to Baltimore and that they could only pad their 1 1/2-game lead, the Blue Jays instead saw Candiotti (13-12) rocked for seven runs in the first inning and watched the Angels hold off their comeback attempts throughout the game.

Toronto’s last hope was quashed with one out in the ninth, when former Angel Dave Parker was called out trying to stretch a single into a double. Angel second baseman Luis Sojo later wordlessly gave the “safe” sign, but umpire Dale Scott’s “out” call was all that mattered.

“Was that frustrating?” said Toronto interim manager Gene Tenace, who has compiled a 17-14 record while Manager Cito Gaston recovers from back problems. “No. The first inning was frustrating. Seven runs with two out.”

The Angels scored all their runs with two out, including the seven that raised Candiotti’s earned-run average from a league leading 2.23 to 2.50. Candiotti, who said his dental work had no effect on his pitching, had won his previous four decisions and had given up two runs in two games against the Angels before he was traded from Cleveland to Toronto in June.

Max Venable’s bases-loaded triple was the highlight of the first-inning spree, the Angels’ most productive inning since they scored seven against the A’s last Oct. 3, and Lee Stevens added three hits and three RBIs.

But even that early bounty wasn’t enough to keep alive Chuck Finley’s chances of winning 20 games. Finley, who has 17 victories and two starts left this season, was relieved after 3 2/3 innings because Manager Buck Rodgers felt Finley might overtax his arm if he continued.

The Blue Jays scored twice in the second and twice in the third to narrow the Angels’ lead to 7-4, but the Angels made it 9-4 in the third on Stevens’ two-run single. But Finley couldn’t hold that lead, giving up two doubles and a walk before Scott Lewis replaced him. Finley threw his cap into the stands: as he walked off the field, his frustration apparent.

Despite giving up a homer to Kelly Gruber that made it 9-8, Lewis (3-5) got the victory.

“He had over 100 pitches in the fourth inning (actually 88) and he just wasn’t getting it done,” Rodgers said of Finley. “He was trying like hell but he wasn’t getting it done. I went as far as I could go with him. I couldn’t go further.

“I wanted to win this game as much as anybody. But you can’t jeopardize everything. There’s more than one guy on the field. He’ll get his wins. I know it’s a tough one.”

The Angels sweated to get the victory that lifted them two games above .500 for the first time since Aug. 2, when they were 52-50. Bryan Harvey, the sixth Angel pitcher, retired Maldonado to start the ninth but Parker lined a hit toward the gap in left-center. Luis Polonia’s throw to second was accurate, but Parker claimed he slid in before the tag by Sojo.

“I know I was safe. Why do you think I was out there yelling?” he said. “He (Scott) blew the call. I was on the corner of the bag. He didn’t even tag me on the first attempt--he got me on the second attempt . . . It makes it kind of tough. He blew the call. It was a shame that it happened.”

Harvey ended the game by getting pinch-hitter Rance Mulliniks to ground to second, recording his major league-leading 43rd save.

Rodgers had said before the game he would approach this three-game series against the Blue Jays “just the way we did in Chicago. We’re gonna beat them. We want to get out of the cellar.” They accomplished both Monday, defeating the Blue Jays and moving into a sixth-place tie with Kansas City in the Al West. That afforded Rodgers a good deal of satisfaction. “Just like I said,” he said, “we played ‘em tough.”