It’s Sweet for Perez, Angels, 4-3

Angel third baseman Eduardo Perez remembered standing at home plate in total disbelief, watching the ball soar into the left-field stands Saturday night, but then the rest became cloudy.

He couldn’t remember tossing his bat over his head in the ninth inning, throwing his hands high into the air--once, twice, three times--and circling the basepaths in the Angels’ 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins before 29,116 at Anaheim Stadium.

“I still don’t know what happened,” Perez said. “It really hasn’t hit me yet. I keep pinching myself.

“I realize it’s not a dream, but it sure as hell feels like it.”

Perez, who was staying at a cramped hotel in the minor leagues a week ago, found himself at the plate with one out and Tim Salmon at third base. The pitcher was Rick Aguilera, the same pitcher who struck him out on three pitches Friday night.

It would have been easy for Angel Manager Buck Rodgers to pinch-hit for Perez, bringing in left-handed batter Stan Javier. He had no idea whether Perez would put the bat on the ball, let alone hit a sacrifice fly. He really didn’t know how Perez would react.

“I can’t find out anything about him if I put a pinch-hitter in there,” Rodgers said. “You let him hit, and you find out right away. He looked like he couldn’t wait to drive him in.

“And he got it all, every living ounce of it.”

Perez, remembering how Aguilera made him look silly Friday by throwing fastballs past him, guessed that Aguilera would throw a first-pitch fastball again. This time, it was Aguilera looking rather foolish, watching the ball soar 373 feet into the left-field seats.

“I’m pretty much speechless,” Perez said. “I really don’t know what to say. I was just trying to hit a fly ball, but it turned into much more than that.

“I never really hit a ball and watched, but it’s the first time I ever hit a game-winning homer. I don’t even remember a game-winning home run in Little League.”

Perez barely remembers dancing around the bases and being smothered by teammates. The only one he remembers seeing was his brother, Victor, standing in the seats behind home plate, and frantically looking for a telephone to call the folks back home.

“It’s been a hell of a week,” said Perez, who batted .300 with two homers and five RBIs his first week in the major leagues. “I didn’t even know I’d be here a week ago, and now look at me.

“But the one thing my dad (former All-Star Tony Perez) always told me was, ‘It’s easy to get to the big leagues. It’s hard to stay.’ ”

The Angels’ victory, their fourth in five games, was their 24th comeback victory of the season, one shy of their 1992 total. The Angels also became the first team to beat the Twins when trailing after eight innings, breaking their streak of 38 games.

Angel starter Chuck Finley (12-8) gave up eights hits in his complete-game performance, finishing by retiring the last 12, and 22 of the last 24, overcoming a 3-0 deficit.

“We’ve made a 180-degree turn,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got that team effort going again, a collective effort like it was before (the 10-game losing streak).”

The Angels also were buoyed by the fact that no one was traded away before the 9 p.m. waiver deadline. They will stand pat the rest of the way, making room only for perhaps infielder Kurt Stillwell and a few minor league call-ups.

“Even if we get back into the race in the next 25 days,” said Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president/baseball operations, “I can’t imagine there would be anyone out there who would help us.”