ANGELS BRING THEIR `A' GAME ERSTAD, ANDERSON KEY BIG WIN ANGELS 5, OAKLAND 3.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - It had been five weeks since Darin Erstad hit a home run, five days since the Angels actually held a lead in a game, and an immeasurable stretch since his teammates felt any reason to exhale in a pennant race that was quickly consuming them.

So when Erstad stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning Saturday, the Angels down a run to Oakland and staring down the end of their season, he knew exactly what was at stake.

``I don't hit very many home runs,'' he said. ``You try to make them count.''

This one did. Erstad's three-run shot into the right-field bleachers gave the Angels their first lead since Monday, Garret Anderson's RBI double in the eighth inning put them ahead to stay, and they pitched well enough to subdue the Athletics, 5-3, in front of 43,197 at Angel Stadium.

Must-win? Technically, no. A loss would have pushed the Angels (86-68) four games behind Oakland, with today's series finale and a seven-game road trip all that remained of their season.

But for the Angels, losers of three in a row and five of six, losers of six in a row to the A's and undeniably punchless all month, there was no use downplaying the significance of the win.

They're two games out now, instead of four, with a chance to move within a game tonight against struggling Oakland left-hander Mark Mulder.

``I'm not going to lie to you. Today was a huge game,'' Erstad said. ``Four games back with eight to play is a huge deficit. We gave ourselves a chance.''

After facing fireballer Rich Harden and his 97-mph fastball Friday night, the Angels were forced to switch gears come Saturday afternoon, encountering the soft and softer offerings of lefty Mark Redman.

And these days, it doesn't take much to subdue the Angels' bats. They are 74-22 this season when scoring four or more runs, but lately, that's been a Herculean task. They'd been held to three runs or less in seven of their last 15 games.

So when Jarrod Washburn gave up an RBI single to Mark Kotsay in the fifth for a 1-0 Oakland lead, the noose got tighter. But Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez kicked a one-out grounder from David Eckstein, Chone Figgins followed with a single, and up came Erstad.

He hadn't homered in 126 at-bats, dating to an August series at Tampa Bay, and had hit just six all year. Redman, whom Erstad first faced in college when he was at Nebraska and Redman at Oklahoma, struck him out and got him on a weak tapper to first in the third.

This time, he left a pitch up, and Erstad roped it into the right-field seats for a 3-1 lead, their first since beating Seattle on Monday.

``We've been waiting for that big hit for a long time,'' Washburn said.

``That just got a little monkey off the back,'' Eckstein said. ``It was a big lift up for the team.''

Washburn quickly gave it back, though, leaving a changeup in Jermaine Dye's power zone for a game-tying two-run homer in the sixth, but Anderson averted more damage with a fine running grab of Bobby Kielty's shot to the wall.

Washburn still delivered six solid innings, and Francisco Rodriguez (4-1) blew the A's away in the seventh and eighth, retiring all six batters and striking out four.

That set the stage for the eighth, when reliever Chad Bradford hit Jose Guillen with a pitch to lead off. The A's countered Anderson with lefty Ricardo Rincon, who retired Anderson on a slider in the eighth inning Friday.

A day later, it was a different story, even with Anderson in a 3-for-30 funk.

``It was 84 (mph), and out over the plate,'' Anderson said. ``I don't know what he calls it.''

You could call it a game-winner after Anderson lashed it into the corner, scoring pinch-runner Alfredo Amezaga for a 4-3 lead.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Darin Erstad gets high fives from Angels teammates after his three-run home run Saturday against Oakland.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS 5, ATHLETICS 3