Back on Field, Angels Rally but Fall Short, 5-3 : Baseball: With Wathan in charge, they lose fourth game in row and sixth in seven games on trip.

Their bodies bruised and emotions jumbled by the Thursday morning bus accident that debilitated Manager Buck Rodgers, the Angels sought a victory over the Orioles Friday night to ease their pain.

But a rally in the eighth inning that chased Baltimore’s Ben McDonald (6-1) fell short and the Angels suffered a 5-3 loss before a sellout crowd of 45,709 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Angels have lost four games in a row and six of seven games on this trip.

“I think guys were glad to be back taking batting practice and on the field,” shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “When you’re an athlete programmed to be playing and your thoughts instead are about your manager with his elbow shattered, lying by the side of the road, it’s hard to deal with.”

“I felt like a lot of guys were holding a lot of things in,” said DiSarcina singled to start the two-run eighth.

“We’re all waiting for the inning when we score six or seven runs and have fun again,” he added. “Once we have a big inning and put a win or two together, you’ll see people loosening up. People are so drained emotionally, they have nothing else to give. People were in shock after the accident and that takes a lot out of you. It’s hard to perform when your mind is just battered.”

Interim Manager John Wathan though the Angels played well in light of the stress and physical discomfort they still feel.

“With all that’s happened, the guys went out there and had a pretty good focus on the game,” said Wathan, who returned to managing a year to the day after he was fired as manager of the Kansas City Royals. “They were intense, but McDonald is a pretty good pitcher and he pitched pretty well.

“I would have liked to have Alvin Davis (who bruised a kidney in the accident and is returning to California today). That’s one guy I missed tonight. Other than that, everything went as well as could be expected. After every ballgame you lose, you think of what you could have done differently.”

Julio Valera (2-3) gave up a run in the second that the Angels matched in the fifth on a two-out walk to Mike Fitzgerald and singles by DiSarcina and Luis Polonia.

Valera tired in the sixth, yielding singles to Cal Ripken and Glenn Davis before Randy Milligan hit an RBI-double.

Chris Hoiles was walked intentionally, bringing up Chito Martinez. Wathan countered with left-hander Scott Bailes.

“I liked the matchup,” Wathan said. “I had Chito Martinez in the minor leagues, at Omaha. “(Bailes) just left the ball out over the plate.”

Martinez sent center fielder Junior Felix to the wall to make the catch, allowing Davis to score from third. Leo Gomez drove in the fourth run with a line-single to center, a lead Mike Devereaux extended to 5-1 in the seventh with a one-out homer to left.

Singles by DiSarcina, Felix and pinch-hitter Jose Gonzalez sandwiched around a pair of groundouts narrowed Baltimore’s lead to 5-3 in the eighth, and a spectacular leaping catch by replacement right fielder Chad Curtis on Brady Anderson’s bases-loaded drive in the eighth kept the game close.

But Anderson, a onetime standout at UC Irvine, quashed the Angels’ rally hopes when he scaled the left-field fence and to deprive Gary Gaetti of a home run leading off the ninth.

Gregg Olson ended the game by getting Fitzgerald to fly to right and DiSarcina to ground to short.

In losing, the Angels fell a season-high 5 1/2 games out of first.