Athletics Pull Down the Angels : Baseball: AL West lead is reduced to one game after 3-2 loss in 10 innings.

OAKLAND —  The euphoria of J.T. Snow’s two-out, ninth-inning, game-tying home run dissolved into an Angel clubhouse filled with blank stares and an eerie quiet Tuesday night.

Not long after Snow’s blast, which ended a 17-inning scoreless streak for the Angels, the Oakland Athletics scored off Troy Percival in the bottom of the 10th to defeat the Angels, 3-2, before an announced crowd of 10,524 in the Oakland Coliseum.

That gave the Angels their sixth consecutive loss and their 24th in 32 games, and there was another jolt awaiting the Angels in their clubhouse.

Only moments after Oakland catcher Terry Steinbach’s game-winning hit, the Seattle Mariners completed an 11-inning victory over the Texas Rangers to trim what had once been an 11-game Angel lead in the AL West to one game.

The Angels, who have now gone 48 consecutive innings without a lead dating back to last Wednesday night against the Chicago White Sox, are also only two games ahead of the New York Yankees in the wild-card race.

“Nobody’s going to win this thing for us--we go to Texas, Seattle and then close at home with Oakland, so it’s right there in our hands,” third baseman Tony Phillips said. “I don’t want to back into the playoffs. I want to win the division, because I think we have the best team.”

A shock, then surge, went through the Angel dugout in the top of the ninth.

Almost simultaneously, the Oakland Coliseum scoreboard operator updated the Seattle-Texas score to reflect the Mariners’ two-run, game-tying rally in the ninth, and Snow drove an 0-1 Dennis Eckersley pitch over the fence in right-center to pull the Angels even, 2-2.

Snow’s 22nd home run of the season scored Tim Salmon, who had doubled with one out off Eckersley, and touched off a wild celebration in the dugout.

But Rickey Henderson opened the 10th with a walk and stole second off Percival, who was pitching his third inning. Stan Javier sacrificed Henderson to third, and Percival walked pinch-hitter Jason Giambi and cleanup batter Mark McGwire, the latter intentionally, to load the bases.

Steinbach, whose bases-empty home run off Percival in the eighth inning gave the A’s a 2-0 lead, then lifted a fly ball to medium left field.

Left fielder Garret Anderson, playing shallow in hopes of cutting down Henderson at the plate, didn’t even attempt to catch the ball, which landed in the outfield as Henderson crossed the plate.

“I’ve been the guy they’ve counted on all year to get the job done, and I didn’t tonight,” Percival said. “I had five days’ rest and felt fine. I can take the losses when I give up hits, but not the ones where I walk guys.”

Percival said he wasn’t aware of the developments in Seattle.

“All I know is we’ve got two more games there [Tuesday and next Wednesday], and when we get there we’re going to kick the crap out of them,” Percival said. “We’re a good club. We’re going to win the division and go to the playoffs.”

Not unless they can put together a solid pitching and hitting performance on the same night. Tuesday night they wasted an outstanding start by left-hander Jim Abbott, who gave up only one run on five hits and struck out a season-high 10 in seven innings.

But the Angels hit into two double plays and couldn’t muster a run off Oakland starter Steve Ontiveros, who allowed four hits in six innings, and Jim Corsi, who pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth.

Abbott opened the game with five consecutive strikeouts, two shy of White Sox pitcher Joe Cowley’s league record of seven strikeouts to open a game, set in 1986, and three shy of Houston pitcher Jim Deshaies’ major league mark of eight, also set in 1986.

* MARINERS RALLY, WIN: Doug Strange hits two-run homer in ninth and Ken Griffey’s RBI single in 11th beats Rangers. C7