Wild Pitch in 11th Inning Spells Doom for Angels : Baseball: Parrish unable to handle low delivery from Crim, enabling A’s to win.

Angel pitcher Chuck Crim was in trouble. He could throw a curveball, but then a squeeze bunt by Oakland’s Mike Bordick would score Scott Hemond from third. A fastball down in the dirt might keep Bordick from carrying off the squeeze play, but at the same time might cross up catcher Lance Parrish.

Crim had a split second to make his decision with one out in the 11th inning Monday night at Oakland Coliseum. He chose to aim the fastball down, praying somehow Parrish would block it or smother it and the Angels could salvage a game they fervently wanted to win in order to show how seriously they would challenge the A’s this season.

When it hit the ground and bounded away from Parrish for a wild pitch, the A’s came up 4-3 winners over the Angels. That extended their domination of the Angels at home to seven games in a row since the final game of the 1990 season. Overall, Oakland has won 13 of the teams’ last 14 meetings and 22 of 27.

“I tried to prevent (Bordick) from getting the bunt down, but he didn’t square to bunt. If they lay it down, you lose anyway,” Crim said. “I thought Lance caught it until I heard everybody screaming. I didn’t see it hit the ground.”

Said Luis Polonia, after the Angels’ second loss on their seven-game trip: “The Oakland A’s always leave us in defeat. Every time we come here they win like this. I hope it turns around so we can at least feel we can beat Oakland. We’re not giving up. We’re going to keep trying.”

Their attempt was earnest, thanks to 7 2/3 strong innings from starter Joe Grahe, and sterling relief work from Steve Frey and Mark Eichhorn. Although the A’s got to Grahe for a pair of two-out runs in the third on a walk to Rickey Henderson and singles by Carney Lansford, Jose Canseco and Harold Baines, the Angels rallied to take the lead in the fifth.

Gary DiSarcina worked out a walk from Oakland starter Joe Slusarski and took second on Polonia’s single. After Chad Curtis flied out and Von Hayes popped up, A’s catcher Jamie Quirk threw the ball away while trying to catch Polonia leaning too far off first, allowing DiSarcina to score and Polonia to take third. Polonia scored when Brooks slammed a three-and-two pitch into the left-field seats for his third home run of the season.

Grahe settled into a smooth rhythm that was unbroken until Henderson led off the ninth by walking. Henderson dashed to third on Lansford’s hit-and-run single to right and scored on a potential double-play grounder that was bobbled by second baseman Bobby Rose, who had to settle for getting only Canseco at first.

“If I don’t walk anybody, we’re celebrating a 3-0 victory,” Grahe said in the silent Angel clubhouse. “I’m throwing the ball well, but there’s still things I need to do. . . . I paid the price for the two-out walk to Henderson (in the fourth inning). I deserved it. That shouldn’t happen.”

The Angels might have been victimized by a bit of bad luck, too. The Angels walked Baines to bring up Mark McGwire, who obliged them by lining to third. Gary Gaetti’s throw to double Lansford off second hit Lansford in the back of the head, enabling Lansford to move to third and Baines to second. Angel Manager Buck Rodgers argued that Baines didn’t tag up before moving to second--a claim backed by replays--but first base umpire Mike Reilly rejected Rodgers’ argument.

“This guy didn’t see it. He had one thing to do: watch first base,” Rodgers said.

Frey came in to strike out Hemond, and Eichhorn got through the ninth and 10th with only a walk to lance Blankenship. But A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley (1-0) overpowered the Angels, striking out the first five hitters he faced and ultimately striking out five of six.

“We lost a ballgame. We’re going to play these guys tough all year,” Rodgers said. “It’s not the end of the world.”

The game ended in Oakland’s favor when the A’s staged their seventh winning rally of the season. McGwire led off the 11th with a fly to center, but Hemond lined Crim’s pitch up the middle for a single and easily got to third on Willie Wilson’s single to right. With Bordick at bat, Hemond faked a dash home, leading Crim to think the squeeze was on. Then Hemond gleefully danced home, to the delight of the crowd of 24.106. “This team’s got a lot of character,” Hemond said.

Rodgers believes his team does, too. “Everybody pitched well and Lance blocked a lot of balls in the dirt.”