FIGGINS IS MAN OF THE MONTH KENDRICK 2-RUN HR WINS IT FOR ANGELS.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

BALTIMORE -- As it turns out, the Angels' record book is mightier than the storied one the Baltimore Orioles carry.

Chone Figgins broke the club record for hits in a month as the Angels had to rally for a 9-7victory over the Orioles, who saw the third cycle in team history go to waste.

Baltimore's Aubrey Huff banged out a triple, double, home run and single in that order and left to a standing ovation as he was replaced by a pinch runner in the seventh inning. The Orioles could have used him later as a two-run home run by Howie Kendrick off Baltimore reliever Chris Ray in the top of the ninth broke a 7-7 tie.

"Every guy has his own approach and for me, my approach is to try and take it up the middle," Kendrick said. "I was just trying to relax and he just happened to make a mistake out over the plate and I took advantage of it. "

Figgins offered four more hits to the cause to give him 51 this month and break Darin Erstad's record of 48 in April of 2000. Figgins is just the fourth player in the past five years to get 50 or more hits in a month. The major-league record is 61 by George Sisler (1920) and Chick Klein (1930).

"We've talked about a lot of guys over the last couple of months and maybe one of those guys we maybe haven't been giving enough credit for reemerging in our offense is Chone," manager Mike Scioscia said. "What he has done is spectacular and I think he feels very comfortable in the batter's box; confident in his game."

It was a character-building victory for the Angels, who were coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the lowly Kansas City Royals.

"It's easy to sit back and say 'OK, we should beat (the Royals),'" Kendrick said. "We'll it doesn't happen that way. You have to play ball and our team is a strong team. Tonight we went out and just have been the same team we have been all year."

With Reggie Willits out of the lineup because of a sore knee, Figgins more than picked up the slack to recharge the offense. He had three hits in his first three at-bats and scored the first two times he came to the plate.

"He's awesome," said the Orioles' Melvin Mora, who had one of the two home runs off Angels starter Kelvim Escobar. "I've said it in the past, if I'm a general manager I want seven Figgy on my team."

But all of Figgins' early work was wasted by the fifth inning. The Angels grabbed a 5-0 lead in the second inning, but the Orioles slowly chipped away against starter Kelvin Escobar. Melvin Mora's two-run home run in the fourth inning made it 5-3 and Huff delivered a three-run home run to cap a four-run fifth inning.

Orlando Cabrera cut the Orioles' lead to 7-6 with a home run in the seventh and Figgins tied it in the eighth with a two-out RBI single. Kendrick's decisive home run in the ninth also came with two outs. Francisco Rodriguez closed things out with his 23rd save.

Huff joined legends Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr. as the only Orioles to pull off the feat.

"Obviously for a 235-pound fat guy to get the triple out of the way, it helps," Huff said. "(Teammate Kevin) Millar said you have to get that (cycle) for all the fat guys out there."

Huff closed out his cycle with a single to center off Angels reliever Chris Bootcheck.

[e-mail]

[phone], Ext. 2731

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Chone Figgins has 51 hits this month for the Angels, establishing a club record.

Gail Burton/Associated Press

Box:

(1) ANGELS at BALTIMORE

-- Doug Padilla

(2) HITTING 50