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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Until this weekend, the Anaheim Angels
and Kansas City Royals had combined to play more than 11,000 games
without ever hitting four home runs in one inning.
|  | | Darin Erstad homered and went 4-for-5 on Sunday. |
Now they've each done it.
Two days after the Royals accomplished the feat, the Angels
returned the favor Sunday, going deep four times in a six-run fifth
inning en route to an 8-4 victory in this homer-happy season.
"Are (the balls) juiced? They're moving pretty good," said
Royals manager Tony Muser. "They're not soft baseballs. Let's put
it that way."
Darin Erstad was 4-for-5 with five RBIs and hit the first of
Anaheim's fifth-inning shots. One out later, Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon
and Garret Anderson added consecutive homers, giving the Angels
home run records for both one inning and one month.
Their May total of 48 homers breaks the record of 44 set in
August 1982.
"I don't think we're the only two teams like this," said
first-year Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia.
The way home runs have been flying out of the park has caused
Scioscia to re-think some baseball theory.
"My whole career playing pretty much in a pitchers' park, you
had a totally different perspective on events and things that win
and lose games," he said. "It definitely changes strategy."
Erstad raised his average to .387 and homered for the third
straight game to overtake Texas' Ivan Rodriguez (.380) in the AL
batting race.
Erstad connected off Miguel Batista (2-3) after Matt Walbeck
walked and Keith Luuloa singled, putting the Angels up 3-2.
After Adam Kennedy flied out, Vaughn hit an 0-2 pitch for his
AL-leading 18th homer and Salmon made it 5-2 with a 397-foot drive
to left.
After Jason Rakers replaced Batista, Anderson hit the reliever's
third pitch over the fence in right. The crowd applauded derisively
when the next hitter, Troy Glaus, only singled.
Vaughn, long one of the game's premier power hitters, has sensed
a changed in pitching.
"Since I first came up (in 1991), the game has definitely
changed," he said. "There are some pitchers out there on that
mound, they make you feel you take too much of the plate and
they're going to hit you in the head. But there's not as many."
It was the sixth time in team history the Angels hit three
consecutive home runs.
Erstad, leading the league in with 82 hits and 27 multihit
games, added a two-run single in the eighth.
"The hits are falling this year. Last year they weren't," he
said. "I just go up there and compete. I can't do much after it
hits the bat."
Rookie Brian Cooper (2-0), making his seventh major league
start, gave up six hits and three runs in eight innings. He allowed
RBI singles to Joe Randa in the second and Jermaine Dye in the
third and then retired 14 of the next 15 batters. He gave up six
hits and walked one and struck out four.
Batista went 4 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs on
eight hits. He walked two and struck out four.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa got his second save in three opportunities.
With the bases loaded in the ninth, he got Carlos Febles to hit
into a double play.
Game
notes
The Angels had hit three homers in an inning 20 times. ...
Four home runs allowed in an inning are a Royals record. ... Mike
Sweeney's stolen base in the third was the major-leading 50th for
the Royals, but only their first in nine games. ... The Royals
missed a chance to sweep the Angels three games in Kansas City for
the first time since June 9-11, 1989. ... Brian Johnson extended
his hitting streak to nine games. ... The Angels had hit three home
runs in an inning six times.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Anaheim Clubhouse
Kansas City Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 12
Detroit 7
Tampa Bay 14
Seattle 4
Oakland 0
Baltimore 0
Cleveland 12
Chi. White Sox 3
Anaheim 8
Kansas City 4
Minnesota 4
Texas 3
Boston 2
NY Yankees 0
Florida 3
Cincinnati 1
NY Mets 6
St. Louis 2
Colorado 11
Pittsburgh 2
Houston 4
Atlanta 3
San Diego 4
Montreal 3
Chicago Cubs 4
San Francisco 1
Philadelphia 4
Los Angeles 2
Milwaukee 4
Arizona 3
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