ANAHEIM – In the standings, their lead is being eaten away at slowly – a game here, a game there – with the New York Yankees advancing closer, making up ground the way a charging army might.

But last night at Angel Stadium, there was nothing gradual about the Red Sox’ loss. It seemed to happen quickly, almost before the Red Sox noticed, certainly faster than they could to halt it.

After the Sox had grabbed a 4-2 lead with three runs in the top of the fifth, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim responded with five runs of their own, part of an onslaught of eight unanswered runs that overwhelmed the Sox in a bruising, sloppy 10-4 loss.

The setback was the Red Sox’ second in a row here, at the hands of the team with the best home record in the American League, and Boston saw its division lead shrivel to just five games. No team has been this close to the Red Sox since May 2, more than three months ago.

''It happened in a hurry,'' said Terry Francona of the Angels’ eruption. ''We had changed the momentum (with three runs in the top of the inning), but then they had a four-pitch walk, a hit, another walk, an error . . . ''

After Gary Matthews Jr.'s two-run single gave L.A. a 5-4 lead, Francona replaced Wakefield – who had allowed the first five hitters of the inning to reach base against him – with Manny Delcarmen in an effort to repel the Angels. Instead, the surge continued.

After a groundout by Casey Kotchman, Maicer Izturis hit a chopper than to the right of the mound, scoring Garret Anderson just ahead of Dustin Pedroia’s throw, making it 6-4. A suicide squeeze by Jeff Mathis plated the Angels' seventh run of the night -- and fifth of the inning -- and the rout was on.

''They’re so aggressive in so many aspects of the game,'' said Francona. ''Playing them, the game runs at a fast pace. If you’re not ready for it, they run you into mistakes.''

''I don’t know what happened, to be honest with you,'' said a stunned Wakefield, who was trying to become the team’s second 14-game winner in the last three days. ''I made some good pitches, but they took some good swings on them. I felt like I had probably the best stuff I’ve had (coming out of the bullpen), but it just didn’t (translate to the mound).

''They’re not an easy lineup to face. They’ve got some speed; they had a couple of stolen bases off me and that led to some runs. But we had scored three runs (in the top of the inning) and I couldn’t hold the lead. I’m very disappointed in myself.''

The Angels kept piling on in the sixth against Julian Tavarez with two more, then added a solo run in the eighth off Kyle Snyder for eight unanswered runs.

A lethal combination of sloppy play and poor decision-making didn’t help the Red Sox.

After the Angels had pushed ahead with their five-run inning, the Sox seemed poised to respond the very next inning. Mike Lowell led with a single to left, followed by a double to the left-center gap by Coco Crisp. But third-base coach Demarlo Hale gambled by sending Lowell with no outs, and the Sox third baseman was cut down on a perfect relay from shortstop Orlando Cabrera, taking the Sox out of a potential big inning.

Two groundouts followed, and the Sox were held scoreless.

''Demarlo is so good over there . . . ’’ said Francona, tacitly agreeing that his coach shouldn’t have been so aggressive. ''He’ll be beating himself up for that one.''

The errors in the field didn’t help. Lugo never seemed to get in front of a grounder into the hole hit by Anderson in the fateful fifth, loading the bases and extending the inning. Even Crisp, who hadn’t committed an error in since July 21, 2006, kicked away a ball in the sixth, ending a streak of 153 games without a miscue.

Thanks to the Yankees’ win in Toronto, the race has narrowed considerably, a fact not loss on the Sox.

''I’m not surprised,'' Francona said of the Yankees’ recent torrid stretch, which has seen them win eight of their last nine. ''They were too good a team to be playing the way they were. And we’ve been playing .500 or so the last month, so we need to pick up the pace.''

smcadam@projo.com