Angels Waste 5-3 Lead; Kent Lifts Blue Jays, 9-5

The sound of a standing ovation ringing in his ears, Gary Gaetti waved his arms over his head and ran to the Angels’ dugout as the Toronto Blue Jays finished batting in the top of the eighth inning Tuesday night.

All that spoiled this happy scenario was the sarcasm behind the ovation awarded first baseman Gaetti for two misplays that allowed the Blue Jays to go ahead in the seventh inning and eventually win, 9-5.

Remembering that Gaetti had dropped the ball after Joe Carter was caught in a seventh-inning rundown--and remembering Gaetti’s futile wave at Jeff Kent’s bad-hop double that scored Carter with the run that broke a 5-5 tie--many fans left from the Anaheim Stadium crowd of 21,581 gave Gaetti that mock ovation for making two routine putouts in the eighth inning.

Gaetti smiled, but the Angels could hardly be happy over squandering a 5-3 lead they had built against Jack Morris (12-3) by scoring five times in the fifth inning.

Kent, who had hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning off Angel starter Julio Valera, drove in four runs and Pat Borders accounted for the other two with a two-run blast in the sixth.

In winning, the Blue Jays extended their American League East lead over Baltimore to four games.

Morris won his seventh consecutive decision despite had a less than overpowering eight-hit, seven-inning performance. Chuck Crim (4-3), who had retired 21 consecutive batters before Carter led off the seventh with a single to right, took the loss.

The Blue Jays put the pressure on the from the beginning, putting runners on base in each of the first three innings, but the Angels’ defense helped Valera escape potentially difficult situations. And, in the first inning, Valera got himself out of trouble.

After the Blue Jays had runners on first and second in the first inning on an infield hit by Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter’s single to left, Valera settled down and defused the threat. He managed to get Dave Winfield to pop up and John Olerud to fly to deep center, a ball that didn’t carry as far as it appeared destined to go when it left Olerud’s bat.

Candy Maldonado led off the second inning with a single to center, but Valera got Kent to ground to third, where Rene Gonzales began a double play. Borders flied out to center to end the inning.

Toronto got its leadoff runner on base again in the third, when Manny Lee’s liner ricocheted off the pitcher’s mound and into short left field, but nothing came of it. Devon White bounced to short for a force play, and Alomar followed with a bouncer to second to force White. Joe Carter’s sharp bouncer to the right side was turned into an inning-ending force play on a diving stab by second baseman Luis Sojo.

Valera couldn’t avert trouble in the fourth inning, when the homer by Kent--a graduate of Edison High in Huntington Beach--gave Toronto a 3-0 lead.

Winfield led off with a double into the left-field corner but advanced only to third on Olerud’s single to right. It was Olerud’s 14th hit in 26 at-bats against the Angels this season. Both Olerud and Winfield ended up scoring one out later when Kent slammed a 1-and-1 pitch 389 feet into the left-field seats for his fifth homer of the season.

Valera struggled in the fifth, giving up two singles and a walk to Winfield that loaded the bases for Olerud. But Valera escaped with a flourish as Olerud popped up to shallow center and center fielder Junior Felix threw White out at the plate.

That seemed to inspire the Angels, who had five consecutive hits in the bottom of the fifth and six hits overall to take a 5-3 lead.

Curtis began the rally with his seventh homer of the season and third against the Blue Jays, a shot to left on a 2-and-2 pitch. Gonzales singled and Gaetti beat out a bouncer to third; Mike Fitzgerald’s bunt went for a hit when Morris’ throw pulled Alomar off the bag and loaded the bases.

DiSarcina lined an 0-and-2 pitch to right to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2 and move Gaetti to third and Fitzgerald to second. Luis Polonia’s grounder to short scored Gaetti.

Sojo kept the inning going with a single to left, scoring Fitzgerald easily and scoring DiSarcina ahead of a late throw from Maldonado. Felix then grounded to second, where Alomar triple-pumped before throwing to first. Felix was ruled safe on interference by Morris, a call the pitcher hotly disputed, but that didn’t cost him because Felix was caught stealing with Von Hayes at bat.