Angels 9, Royals 8

Sunday, May 21, 2000 | 11 a.m.

Spiezio scored from first base on Bengie Molina's two-out single in the seventh inning to break a tie in the Angels' 9-8 victory over the Royals on Saturday night.

"With two outs, I was off with the swing, but I had no idea what was happening," Spiezio said.

In fact, he thought there was a chance he would be thrown out at third base by right fielder David McCarty.

"I thought if he got the ball on a short hop, he'd throw me out at third," Spiezio said. "When I didn't see (third-base coach) Ron Roenicke, I figured I was all right. But he was up the line, waving me around - I wasn't even looking for that."

McCarty threw accurately to cutoff man Mike Sweeney, but Sweeney's throw was at the feet of catcher Jorge Fabregas and Spiezio scored easily.

Mo Vaughn hit a pair of two-run homers, giving him 15 homers and 41 RBIs this season, and 28 multi-homer games for his career.

Vaughn's homers - in the fifth off Mac Suzuki and in the seventh, triggering the go-ahead four-run rally off Paul Spoljaric - came after Adam Kennedy singled and walked, respectively.

"He's my guy, he and Darin (Erstad). When they get on base, the pitcher has to come at me a little bit more," Vaughn said.

"Like I told them, 'If you do something, I have to do something."'

After Vaughn's second homer cut Kansas City's lead to 8-7, Spiezio hit an RBI single off Dan Reichert (2-3) to tie it.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa (3-0), the fifth of seven Anaheim pitchers, got two outs for the victory. Troy Percival pitched the ninth for his 12th save.

Benji Gil's error with no outs led to four unearned runs for Kansas City in the top of the seventh, three on Sweeney's bases-clearing double off the very top of the center-field fence off Hasegawa.

Sweeney matched career highs with four hits and four RBIs - including a three-run double that snapped a 5-5 tie in the top of the seventh - but the Royals knew they wouldn't be able to sit on that lead.

"This team has been through more games likes this than any other the last season-and-a-quarter," Royals manager Tony Muser said.

The Royals stranded 13 runners - including six in scoring position - but Muser had a hard time faulting his offense for the loss.

"When you lose, you always regret the missed opportunities," he said. "But the fact is, we had an 8-5 lead and couldn't hold it."

They also had a 4-3 lead earlier, which Suzuki couldn't hold. Muser saw a different pitcher than the one who had beaten Cleveland with 8 1-3 strong innings in his previous start.

"He had a different personality out there, much slower and passive," Muser said. "You don't know which Mac Suzuki will show up from one day to the next."

After Gil overran Mark Quinn's potential double-play grounder, putting runners at first and third with no outs in the top of the seventh, Rey Sanchez, with two hits in his last 30 at-bats, singled off Hasegawa to make it 5-5 and set up Sweeney's go-ahead double.

Vaughn, 3-for-5, had given the Angels a 5-4 lead with his two-run homer in the fifth.

Sweeney's RBI single gave the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first, and Johnny Damon made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the second.

Spiezio's third-inning leadoff homer brought the Angels within 2-1. Anaheim took its first lead in the fourth when Spezio was walked intentionally to load the bases, and Molina's two-run single made it 3-2.

Kansas City regained the lead in the fifth when David McCarty chased Al Levine, Anaheim's emergency starter, with a game-tying RBI double. Mark Quinn's sacrifice fly off Mike Fyhrie made it 4-3.

Levine got the start after Jason Dickson was placed the disabled list with hip tendinitis. Levine allowed four runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out two in his second career start in 136 appearances.

Suzuki gave up six hits and five runs, struck out four and walked two in 4 1-3 innings. Notes: Royals right fielder Jermaine Dye banged his right knee on the wall making a catch of Adam Kennedy's first-inning fly and had to leave the game in the bottom of the second with a bruised kneecap; precautionary X-rays were negative. ... Sanchez blooped a single into left in the second to snap an 0-for-18 slide. ... Long reliever Mark Petkovsek, diagnosed by team physician Dr. Craig Millhouse with "viral syndrome and dehydration" before the game, won't be available to the Angels until Monday. ... Kansas City leadoff batter Johnny Damon, who has begun 16 games with hits, walked to lead off a game for the first time this season.