SOCKED IN THE THIRD BOSTON'S 8-RUN INNING SINKS ANGELS BOSTON 8, ANGELS 5.

Byline: Gordon Verrell Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - In what is supposed to be a feverish pennant race, the Angels' bullpen is getting a good deal more time lately than the starters, never a good sign. Worse yet, the bullpen has done a far better job.

Scott Schoeneweis labored through a worse fate Tuesday night than the one which befell Ismael Valdes, who failed to last even five innings Monday night. Schoeneweis couldn't make it through three.

The Boston Red Sox paraded 11 batters to the plate in the third inning and eight scored - the biggest single inning against the Angels all season - then held on for an 8-5 win before an Edison Field crowd of 24,402, which pushed season attendance over the 1.5 million plateau.

The Angels sprung to life briefly in the ninth inning, when David Eckstein crushed a three-run homer off of reliever Bill Pulsipher.

But they already had dug far too big a hole. The Angels have dropped three of their last four at home, including two in a row to start the homestand, and remain seven games behind Oakland in the American League wild-card race. They're now four games behind runner-up Boston.

There's no mystery where the trouble spot is.

So far in the series, Angels starters have allowed 14 runs on 15 hits in 6 2/3 innings; eight relievers have allowed no runs on four hits in 11 1/3 innings.

``(Schoeneweis) was behind (in the count) to too many hitters,'' Scioscia said. ``He tried to get back into the (strike) zone and he got hit.''

The Angels were held smartly in check by Red Sox wily veteran David Cone (8-2), who threw for seven strong innings, matching his longest start of the season. He gave up just two runs on six hits. He's lost just once since May 23.

``He probably had his best fastball all year,'' Boston manager Joe Kerrigan said. ``He got ahead of the hitters. This was an outstanding performance.''

Cone's lone mistake was a two-out, two-run homer he yielded to Tim Salmon in the fourth inning. Compared to the Red Sox's third-inning explosion, it was barely a blip.

Schoeneweis took it on the chin for all eight runs, four of which trotted home on Doug Mirabelli's first career grand slam.

``I went with my best pitch there,'' Schoeneweis said, referring to his sinker. ``And he went for a home run. I fell behind 3-0. You don't want to walk the nine-hole catcher. That's the last thing I expected to happen.''

Cone certainly welcomed the huge lead.

``It was nice to have four runs,'' he said. ``But the extra four were huge. It takes the pressure off.''

Schoeneweis sailed through the first two innings. But in the third, the first seven batters reached base. Here was a walk, three consecutive singles, a hit batter, then two more singles.

Schoeneweis didn't get the necessary help from the Angels' usually reliable defense, third-best in the American League. Eckstein had Mike Lansing's liner glance off his glove at shortstop. And second baseman Adam Kennedy failed to handle Dante Bichette's sinking liner. Both went for base hits and both eventually scored.

``These guys are buddies, my teammates,'' Schoeneweis said. ``I'm not about to get on 'em for not making a play.''

Despite the mess - four runs in, the bases loaded and nobody out - Schoeneweis nearly got out of it in decent shape.

He struck out Jose Offerman, got Troy O'Leary to fly out to shallow center and then worked a 3-2 count on Mirabelli after falling behind 3-0.

``I was one ground ball away from getting out of the inning,'' Schoeneweis said. ``Everybody in the ballpark knew what I was going to throw.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Angels starter Scott Schoenweis walks off the mound after giving up a grand slam to Doug Mirabelli.

Kim D. Johnson/Associated Press