GARRET 7, CLEVELAND 1 ANDERSON (GRAND SLAM, SEVEN RBI) LEADS ANGELS ANGELS 7, CLEVELAND 1.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - On a night Kevin Appier wheezed and wobbled through five arduous innings, teammate Garret Anderson provided a stirring contrast. He managed to make this game look easy.

While Appier celebrated his return from the disabled list Thursday night with a typically wild, yet effective outing, Anderson provided every ounce of the Angels' offense by driving in seven runs, four on a game-breaking grand slam in the fifth inning. Appier was the happy beneficiary as the Angels completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians with 7-1 victory at Edison Field.

It was the third time in his career Anderson drove in seven runs, and Thursday's performance was a near-perfect exhibition of clutch hitting.

With two outs in the first, Anderson delivered an RBI single.

After Cleveland tied it in the second inning, Anderson drove in the go- ahead run in the third with an RBI groundout.

And after Appier completed his work at the end of five innings clinging to a 2-1 lead, Anderson put the matter away quickly. When Cleveland starter Jason Davis (2-4) loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk and a single and then fell behind Anderson 2-0, an air of inevitability was in the air.

Sure enough, Anderson crushed Davis' next offering well into the right- field seats for a 6-1 lead.

For good measure, he added an RBI double in the sixth, tying his career high for RBI in a game.

Early on, it appeared Appier would need every bit of that support.

Making his first start since suffering a strained right flexor muscle April 19, Appier (2-2) was anything but sharp. Maybe because it was the light-hitting Indians at the plate, it didn't matter.

Appier gave up a double and a walk to start the game, but center fielder Milton Bradley, activated before the game, bounced into a double play to quell the threat.

A walk, a hit batter and a single could have made the second inning a disaster, but second baseman Adam Kennedy made sure Appier escaped with just one run given up by making a diving stop on Matt Lawton's sharply hit groundball and throwing to first to end the inning.

Fifteen of Appier's first 24 pitches were balls; by game's end he had evened it to 44 balls and 44 strikes among his 88 pitches. Still, he walked six but gave up just one run, a feat he most likely won't be able to pull off in his next scheduled start, against the New York Yankees.

Then again, if Anderson is up with runners in scoring position, anything is possible. He's now hitting .421 (16 for 38) in such situations, and his 33 RBI tie him for second in the American League in that category.

On Thursday, Kennedy made sure there were no shortage of runners to drive in. He reached base his first three times at bat, hitting singles in the first and third and then battling back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk in the fifth inning. That enabled Tim Salmon's infield single to load the bases for Anderson, who followed with his sixth career grand slam.

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Garret Anderson (16) is greeted by his Angels teammates after his fifth- inning grand slam Thursday.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press