SERIOUS CASE OF THE RUNS DAVANON HITS FOR CYCLE ON NIGHT OF IMPRESSIVE OFFENSE ANGELS 21, KANSAS CITY 6.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - On a night of unprecedented offensive gluttony for the Angels, Jeff DaVanon commanded the spotlight by again inserting his name alongside a Hall of Famer in the record books.

DaVanon, the Angels' part-time designated hitter and outfielder, is generally a nondescript performer, but every so often shows a flair for the outlandish. That's what happened Wednesday night, when DaVanon hit for the cycle and drove in four runs in the Angels' 21-6 romp over the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium.

In completing a 7-0 season sweep of the Royals (44-80), the Angels (73-54) set an Angel Stadium record for runs scored. Jose Molina hit his first career grand slam. Garret Anderson hit a three-run home run, singled twice and drove in five runs.

Vladimir Guerrero eclipsed the 100-RBI mark with three singles and two runs driven in, and the Angels batted around in the third and fourth innings and set a season high of 14 runs by the fifth.

It all took a back seat to DaVanon's achievement.

He hit a two-run double off Royals starter Mike Wood (5-3) in the third, a triple off Matt Kinney in the fourth, an RBI single off Nate Camp in the fifth, and then a towering home run off Scott Sullivan leading off the seventh.

When the ball settled into the right field seats for DaVanon's seventh homer of the year, he became the first Angel to hit for the cycle since Hall of Famer Dave Winfield did it June 24, 1991, at Kansas City.

DaVanon has done this sort of thing before. Last June, he became the third player in major league history to homer in three consecutive games, and homered from both sides of the plate in the last two. Only Eddie Murray and Ken Caminiti had previously accomplished that.

He was mobbed by teammates when he reached the dugout, and doffed his cap when he replaced Garret Anderson in center field following the inning. It was just the fourth cycle in franchise history - about the only feat that could have stood out on a night eight starters scored a run, eight got a hit and the indignities continued to be heaped on the AL-worst Royals.

Even when the Angels cleared the bench, the runs kept coming. Darin Erstad became the fourth Angel to enjoy a three-hit night when he contributed an RBI double in the sixth, so Molina replaced him at first to start the seventh.

In the bottom of the inning, he hit a moon shot over the wall in left, providing another raucous moment just minutes after DaVanon completed the cycle.

The conga line around the bases provided a nice distraction from the struggles of Ramon Ortiz (5-7), who won his second consecutive start but managed to elicit boos from the crowd of 39,657 as the Angels remained a half-game back of Oakland in the AL West.

Ortiz, not long for the rotation with Jarrod Washburn on his way back and a rash of off days ahead, was staked to an 11-1 lead entering the fifth. He promptly gave up a four singles, a double and a towering two-run home run to Abraham Nunez before recording an out. It was an 11-5 game, and all of a sudden, key set-up man Brendan Donnelly was warming up, an odd sight on a night that should have been reserved for the mop-up men.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

The Angels' Jeff DaVanon is saluted by teammates and fans after hitting a solo home run that completed the cycle.

Matt Sayles/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS 21, ROYALS 6