[0] FINLEY'S COASTER RIDE GOES OFF TRACK IN FOURTH : KANSAS CITY 11 ANGELS 4.

Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer

From the record book to a fifth-inning hook, Chuck Finley's Friday night was more than even he could imagine.

Continuing one of the most up-and-down stretches of his 14-year Angels career, Finley tied the American League mark with seven consecutive strikeouts before allowing seven runs to the next 10 batters in an 11-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

The Edison Field crowd of 30,946 cheered wildly as Finley struck out the side in the second and third innings and got Carlos Beltran to open the fourth, matching the league record set by Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Ron Davis.

But the fans turned sullen when Johnny Damon started a rally that included four hits and four runs in the fourth, then watched as Finley could not retire a batter in the fifth and allowed four more runs to score.

``I have never been through anything like that,'' Finley said. ``It was such a sudden reversal. I was a real Jekyll and Hyde out there.''

The crowd didn't come alive again until the seventh when Mo Vaughn hit a meaningless home run, his 11th of the season and his third in as many games. But by then, the Angels had their third consecutive loss, dropping them deeper into last place in the American League West.

For Finley (3-5), it was more of an alternating pattern of peaks and valleys that has marked his past four starts.

On May 11, he limited the World Series champion New York Yankees to three hits and no runs in eight innings of a 1-0 victory. In his next start, against Baltimore, he was chased in the sixth inning after giving up seven hits and five runs.

Finley returned last Sunday against Tampa Bay to pitch his first complete game since July 1997 and the 14th shutout of his career.

Now this, but never so hot and cold in the same game.

``I've seen others go through this, but not Chuck,'' Angels manager Terry Collins said. ``When he was striking out all those guys, I said to myself, `This definitely is his night.' ''

From the outset, Finley seemed to have the better of his opponent, Royals right-hander Kevin Appier, who has drawn the interest of the pitching-thin Angels.

Appier, (6-2) back after missing most of the 1998 season due to shoulder surgery, escaped serious injury in the second inning after taking a Darin Erstad line drive off the inside of the left foot.

The ball ricocheted into foul territory along the first-base line and play was halted for several minutes as Appier dropped to the ground in pain. The former Antelope Valley High star returned, but was greeted by a Randy Velarde base hit that scored Andy Sheets and gave the Angels a 2-1 lead.

The pain quickly disappeared and Appier sailed through the six innings and left after throwing exactly 100 pitches.

But there was a strong sense early that Appier wasn't going to get much offensive support, especially when Finley struck out Jermaine Dye, former Angel Chad Kreuter and Joe Randa in the second.

Finely fanned Scott Leius, Rey Sanchez and Carlos Febles in the third then got Beltran to open the fourth. Beltran had given the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first with a home run into the Angels bullpen, his seventh of the season. But in the fourth he gave no indication of what was to come.

Damon's single nearly skipped by Erstad in left for extra bases. The crowd applauded Erstad's defensive effort, but Mike Sweeney followed with a single and Damon scored on an infield out by Dye.

Finley might have gotten out of trouble right there when he appeared to get an inning-ending strikeout on Kreuter on a 2-2 pitch. Instead, home-plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth called it a ball and Kreuter walked on the next pitch.

``I don't complain about calls, but that pitch might have changed everything,'' Collins said. ``It would have still been close. Then, it just got away.''

Randa and Scott Leius added RBI singles and Randa scored all the way from first on a throwing error by Angels shortstop Andy Sheets.

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Photo

Photo: Royals second baseman Carlos Febles dives for a ball hit by the Angels' Randy Velarde.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press