Thomas Unloads, but Angels Win : Baseball: Hits by Martinez and DiSarcina beat White Sox in 10th, 7-5.

White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas was the runaway winner in the tale of the tape Saturday night, launching a home run to left field that traveled an estimated 461 feet--the third-longest blast recorded in the new Comiskey Park since it opened in 1991.

But two rabbit punches by players who are relative lightweights produced a knockout in the Angels’ 7-5 victory before a crowd of 28,470.

Carlos Martinez, hitless in his seven previous at-bats this season, tapped a soft single to center to score pinch-runner Rex Hudler with the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning.

Gary DiSarcina, the No. 9 hitter, then flared an inside pitch off the handle to center to score Spike Owen for a two-run lead, which reliever Lee Smith protected with a scoreless 10th to post his American League-leading ninth save.

“That was a bomb,” Angel designated hitter Chili Davis said of Thomas’ bases-empty homer, which ended an 0-for-13 skid and gave Chicago a 5-4 lead in the seventh. “If this was cricket, it might have been a six-pointer.”

That lead quickly evaporated when J.T. Snow, who moved into the No. 5 spot in the batting order behind Davis on Friday, lined a homer about a foot over the right-field fence to lead off the eighth. Estimated distance: 356 feet.

“But it counted the same as Thomas’ shot,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said.

It also marked the second time the Angels had erased a deficit Saturday. They trailed, 4-2, in the sixth but tied the score on consecutive singles by Davis, Snow and Greg Myers plus Eduardo Perez’s sacrifice fly.

The first-place Angels (14-9) have eight come-from-behind victories and will take a three-game winning streak into today’s series finale against Chicago.

“I don’t think we would have won this kind of game last year or the year before,” Snow said. “We have a great group of veteran guys who never say die, and the young guys are maturing.

“Last year, maybe we would have gotten down after the bad [fourth] inning we had and Thomas’ home run. Maybe we would have thought, ‘Here we go again.’ But we realized we still had two more innings to get them.”

Actually, they had three. Angel left-hander Bob Patterson replaced starter Scott Sanderson in the eighth, pitching two scoreless innings, and the Angels won with a two-out rally in the 10th.

Chicago reliever Rob Dibble, making his second appearance for the White Sox, began by striking out the Angels’ three best hitters--Tim Salmon to end the ninth and Davis and Snow to start the 10th.

Then he walked Myers, and Hudler, running for Myers, reached second base on a wild pitch. Owen, batting for Damion Easley, was intentionally walked.

Lachemann, hardly playing the percentages, decided to replace Perez, a right-handed hitter carrying a .190 average, with Martinez, another right-handed hitter who had a .000 average.

Martinez, a former White Sox and Cleveland infielder who played in his native Venezuela last winter after the Indians bought out his contract, came through.

“How did I know to pinch-hit Carlos? I didn’t,” Lachemann said. “It was a hunch. He’s a free-swinger, a good fastball hitter, but I think he hit a slider.”

Martinez thought he was thrown a curve by the Indians in 1993. He hit .244 with five homers and 31 RBIs in a reserve role but was sent to triple-A Charlotte for the last month of the season.

The Indians asked him to play in Mexico in 1994, but Martinez refused, remaining in Venezuela, where he hit .367 with 40 RBIs.

Mike Couchee, an Angel minor league pitching coach, recommended Martinez to Lachemann. Martinez signed a minor league contract and batted .357 in 10 games at triple-A Vancouver before being called up on May 10.