Angels Guests at Blue Jays’ Clinching Party : Baseball: Toronto rallies in the ninth to wrap up the AL East, 6-5.

The Toronto Blue Jays weren’t going to lose. Not on this night. Not with more than 50,000 fans--including the 4 millionth of the season--in attendance. Not with the AL East on the line.

“We didn’t want to have to worry about what Boston did. It was important to get ready on a high note,” Roberto Alomar said.

And that they did. Toronto came back with two runs in the ninth inning Wednesday night and beat the Angels, 6-5, on Joe Carter’s ninth-inning single.

“This team has been called choker in the past,” said Alomar, who set up the winner by stealing third. “But that doesn’t fit this team. There are too many new faces around here.”

All three players who contributed to the ninth-inning rally weren’t with the Blue Jays last year, when the team lost the division title on the final day.

Devon White, who led off with a single against Bryan Harvey, was acquired from the Angels. Alomar, who reached on second baseman Kevin Flora’s throwing error that allowed White to score and put him at second, came in a big trade with San Diego. And Carter had languished in Cleveland and San Diego the previous two seasons.

“The three guys we got over the winter were involved in our final two runs, and that makes me feel good. Things just fell into place,” General Manager Pat Gillick said. “It was very exciting. It was good we could win at home and not have to back into it.”

The game was played in the SkyDome finale before a crowd of 50,324, which raised Toronto’s season total to 4,001,526. The Blue Jays are the first team in sports history to reach 4 million.

“Nobody can say we backed in. We put back a challenge by Detroit when they got close and we did the same with Boston,” said Candy Maldonado, an August waiver acquisition.

Added White: “You can’t ask for any more than 50,000 fans every game. The best way we could repay these fans was to bring them another championship.”

Toronto has won two division titles in three years. Since 1985, the Blue Jays have won three division titles and were eliminated twice on the season’s final day. They have never gone to the World Series.

The Blue Jays will play the West champion Minnesota Twins in the AL playoffs, which begin Tuesday at the Metrodome. It will be the first time two teams playing in domed stadiums will meet in the postseason.

Harvey (2-4), who leads the league with 45 saves and had converted 22 of his previous 24 opportunities, became the loser when Carter bounced his hit past a drawn-in infield.

“It was a fun game,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “I’m happy for them. This is what it’s all about. This is why you play 162 games, to have 50,000 people out there yelling and screaming. When you’re playing in October, it means something.”