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  Friday, Apr. 21 7:15pm ET
Vaughn, Salmon go back-to-back twice
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Anaheim's powerful bats spoiled Dwight Gooden's much-anticipated homecoming for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Tony Glaus and Ron Roenicke
Troy Glaus was one of three Angels to knock two balls out of the park.

Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Troy Glaus all homered twice, connecting in the fourth inning against Gooden and the ninth inning off Roberto Hernandez to power the Angels to a 9-6 victory Friday night.

"Hitting home runs, you're going to hit some good pitches. But it's mainly about hitting mistakes, and not missing," Vaughn said. "This is a great ballpark to hit in ... The ball carries. It's a great place to play."

The Angels tied a major league record with three players hitting two or more homers in the same game and became the first team to do it twice. Dave Winfield, Dante Bichette and Brian Downing each hit two for Anaheim against Toronto on July 14, 1990. The six homers also tied a club record for the Angels, who had 19 hits in a 12-11 loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday night.

Vaughn led off the ninth against Hernandez (1-2) with a homer to right, his third, to snap a 6-6 tie and finish 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Salmon hit his third homer of the season to make it 8-6 and Glaus finished a 4-for-5, three RBI night with his fourth homer.

Mark Petkovsek (1-1) pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings to get the win. Troy Percival pitched the ninth to earn his fifth save.

Gooden allowed six runs in four-plus innings, struck out one and walked four in his first start in his hometown. The 35-year-old right-hander grew up in Tampa and has lived in St. Petersburg during the offseason for much of his career.

"It's a big deal for myself because this is what I wanted for a while," Gooden said. "But once you get between the lines, you block all that out and go about your business. Unfortunately, I just ran into some trouble in the fourth inning."

Vaughn and Salmon homered on consecutive pitches before Glaus finished Anaheim's four-run fourth with a two-run homer that was estimated to be the longest in the short history of the Devil Rays' domed stadium.

Glaus' drive to left that lodged in a catwalk that helps support the roof of the stadium. The ball traveled an estimated 470 feet, surpassing the 468-foot homer Tampa Bay's Fred McGriff hit against Kansas City on May 5, 1999 as the longest ever at Tropicana Field.

"You don't like the first start to be like it was tonight, but unfortunately it happened," said Gooden, who needed 34 tickets to accommodate requests from family and friends. "I'll tell you what, it felt good going out there and having that type of support. The only disappointment is I didn't give a better performance. But there's plenty of baseball left."

Gerald Williams keyed a four-run fourth inning for Tampa Bay with a two-run double. McGriff had a sacrifice fly and shortstop Benji Gil's error allowed another run to score.

Gooden was obtained from Houston for cash April 13 and pitched six scoreless innings to beat the Detroit Tigers in his Devil Rays debut two days later. He retired the first eight batters he faced before running into trouble against the Angels.

Game notes
The game drew a crowd of 22,221, including a club-record walkup sales of 5,700. ... Salmon homered for the first time since April 3. Five of his six RBIs have come in the last two games ... The Angels hit three home runs in an inning for the first time since Salmon, Jim Edmonds and Tony Phillips did it on July 11, 1997 at Oakland. ... The start was the 399th of Gooden's career, which includes stints with the Mets, Yankees and Indians. ... 3B Herbert Perry, designated for assignment by the Devil Rays on April 12, was claimed on waivers by the White Sox.
 


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