Angels Have Plenty of Fight, Not Runs : Baseball: Toronto wins, 7-6, to complete sweep. Game is marred by a brawl after hit batter, home run.

Kelly Gruber is scheduled to come off the disabled list on Friday, at long last joining the Angels. Perhaps he’ll play third base against the Detroit Tigers. Perhaps he’ll be the designated hitter.

Can he pitch? Or fight? Wednesday night, the Angels could have used both.

In the end, few in the crowd of 24,360 at Anaheim Stadium will remember that Toronto’s Roberto Alomar hit two two-run home runs off Angel starter Julio Valera. Nor will they recall that the Angels rallied in the ninth inning to make a game of it before losing, 7-6.

What stood out was a bench- and bullpen-clearing brawl after Tim Salmon’s two-run home run in the sixth inning. The fight resulted in the ejection of six players. There were no injuries in the fight, which delayed the game by 18 minutes.

Angel center fielder Chad Curtis and Toronto third baseman Ed Sprague were the initial combatants, but they were soon joined by everyone in uniform.

Toronto starter Pat Hentgen’s first pitch in the sixth hit Curtis squarely in the back. Curtis assumed it was in retaliation for Valera’s hitting Sprague and Alomar and throwing a pitch over Joe Carter’s head.

“When I got hit, I looked to see if he (Hentgen) was saying anything,” Curtis said. “And he wasn’t, but right behind him was Sprague and he was saying something.”

Said Hentgen: “I was just trying to pitch inside. I live inside. Sometimes it happens. No one’s perfect.”

Salmon hit Hentgen’s next pitch into the left-field stands, bringing the Angels within 5-3. The trouble started when he and Curtis reached the dugout.

“I have no idea what he was saying,” Curtis said. “I didn’t feel like I should stand there and take it. I’m not willing to be a punching bag for the league.”

Curtis ran to confront Sprague, and third base coach Ken Macha attempted to keep Sprague, 6 feet 2, 215 pounds, from reaching Curtis, 5-10, 175.

“The third baseman threw his glove down and said, ‘Let’s go,’ ” Macha said. “He wanted a piece of Chad.”

The benches and bullpens emptied, and the fight escalated and began moving toward the stands along the third-base side. It was there that things began to get ugly, with fans and players exchanging punches.

Television replays did not capture the first entanglement between Curtis and Sprague but did show Darnell Coles trying to punch a fan in the first row. He appeared to miss the fan, but connected with a police officer who was trying to keep the fans from coming on the field.

To compound matters, fans began throwing the promotional baseballs they were given as they entered the stadium.

When order was finally restored, home plate umpire Don Denkinger ejected Curtis, Damion Easley, Stan Javier, Sprague, Coles and Mark Eichhorn.

“Yeah, it got pretty nasty,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “Then some fans got into it, and you had some guys throwing punches into the stands. I think that’s what got them ultra-fired up, because they were taking shots from fans.

“We were getting our brains beat for three nights, and I was proud of the way they went about the thing.”

It wasn’t clear whether the “thing” meant the fight or the Angels’ comeback from a 5-1 deficit.

“Chad and Sprague went at it. From there all hell broke loose,” Rodgers said.

Said Javier, who was playing left field because Luis Polonia was sidelined with a bruised hand: “I was right in the middle of it. I got hit a few times. And I hope I hit them a few times. It was crazy out there.

“It’s a great sign we didn’t give up.”

After the brawl, Greg Myers hit a solo homer to bring the Angels to within 5-4. The Blue Jays added single runs in the eighth and ninth.

The Angels scored two runs in the ninth inning on RBI singles by Chili Davis and Torey Lovullo. But, with the tying run at third, Myers struck out to end the game.

Rodgers is determined to get Gruber and his bat in the lineup as quickly as possible. And the Angels appear willing to eat the rest of Gary Gaetti’s $5-million contract. An announcement is expected before Friday as to what will be done to open a roster spot for Gruber, and Rodgers said that owners Gene and Jackie Autry would make the final decision.