Winfield Gives Angels Cycle of Prosperity, 9-4 : Baseball: He gets the full range of hits among his five against the Royals, helping Finley to his 11th victory.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —  Dave Winfield’s eyes were huge as he approached third base. An achievement that had long eluded him was clearly in sight.

No matter what happened, no matter if the drive he hit into the gap in right-center field at Royals Stadium had rolled into a hole or rolled into the bullpen, Winfield wouldn’t be denied the triple he needed to hit for the cycle for the first time in his career.

“I said whatever I get, I’m going to stop,” Winfield said. “I enjoyed that. I got it, I got to third base and had my arms wide open, ‘Yeah.’ That’s one time you can just revel in your accomplishment without rubbing it in somebody’s face. You have different days in your career that you get pleasure out of, and this is one.”

The pleasure was all the Angels’ Monday, as they got 18 hits in a 9-4 victory over the Royals.

Winfield began with an RBI-single in the first inning against Hector Wagner (1-1). He followed that with a double in the third, a two-run home run into the left-field bullpen in the fifth--the 392th homer of his career--and another single in the seventh.

“I told the guys on the bench after I got the single, the double and the homer, I said, ‘I’m going to get that triple tonight,’ ” Winfield said. “It’s a tough thing to get a triple. You can predict a home run easier than a triple.”

His chances were enhanced when the Royals, whose bullpen was exhausted after two extra-inning losses Sunday to Baltimore, moved first baseman Bill Pecota to the mound for his major league pitching debut.

“They had nobody down there in their bullpen,” said Angel starter Chuck Finley (11-3), who saved his own team’s bullpen some strain by overcoming a shaky start to pitch eight strong innings.

“I feel bad if (Pecota) gets me out, so I’m bearing down,” said Winfield, who had his second five-hit game of the season. Luis Polonia has also had two, but only Dave Gallagher has gone five for five, as Winfield did Monday.

“No matter who it is, I still have to swing at it,” Winfield said. “It threw me off balance when they threw Pecota in there. I was going to hit left-handed against that guy. Then I said, ‘Stay with what you’re doing.’ I’ve come close before (but lacked the triple). In this ballpark, you can do that if you hit it in the gap.”

Which he did, as promised.

“I just didn’t want to hit anybody,” Pecota said after the Royals’ fourth consecutive loss. “I was just trying to throw strikes.”

Asked how Pecota pitched, Winfield joked: “He was pitching me tough. He was hitting the corners. He gave me a pitch I could extend on. I wouldn’t want to see that guy ever again.”

Seeing Winfield hit for the cycle was a treat for Angel Manager Doug Rader.

“It’s a rarity and a tremendous accomplishment,” he said. “You just can’t realize what an accomplishment it is.”

Finley was working on an accomplishment of his own. After being knocked out by the Red Sox after two-thirds of an inning June 15 and being ejected for throwing at Mickey Tettleton Thursday in Detroit, Finley stayed in second place among AL pitchers with his 11th victory. The Minnesota Twins’ Scott Erickson won his 12th Monday.

Finley was given a 2-0 lead, but he walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning. He issued two of those walks after Angel catcher Ron Tingley had to be helped off the field after being hit on the head by Pecota’s bat as Pecota swung to protect baserunner Brian McRae. Tests showed no concussion, but Tingley stayed overnight at St. Luke’s Hospital for observation.

Kevin Seitzer drove in two runs with a single to tie the score, but the Angels gave Finley back his lead on a double by Luis Sojo and a single by replacement catcher John Orton, who got his first RBI of the season. Finley seemed intent on giving the run back when he gave up back-to-back singles to Pecota and Danny Tartabull with one out in the third, but he retired the next 11 batters.

By the time Mike Macfarlane ended Finley’s streak with a leadoff single in the seventh, the Angels had routed Wagner with six consecutive hits in the fifth. They sent 10 to the plate and scored four times, taking an 8-2 lead.

“They just started hitting the pitches I was throwing, and I got on a roll,” Finley said. “It’s my job to go seven or eight (innings) whether the bullpen is fresh or the bullpen is down. I try to go as far as I can, and they can divide the rest among themselves.”

Winfield had Finley’s undivided attention after predicting he would complete the cycle. “I wouldn’t have recognized it if he hadn’t told me,” Finley said. “I was too busy trying to figure out where my ball was going to worry about him. It was nice to see.”

Seeing his name in the record books is nothing new for Winfield, whose three RBIs gave him 1,566, 12 short of the 20th-place total by Rogers Hornsby. Jim Fregosi twice hit for the cycle as an Angel, and the team’s last such effort was last done by Dan Ford against Seattle on Aug. 10, 1979.

“It’s a tough thing to do. Not many people do it,” said Winfield, who increased his batting average to .289. “I’m just pleased to be able to accomplish it.”

Winfield’s Cycle

Dave Winfield’s at-bats as he hit for the cycle Monday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Inn. Hit Pitcher 1ST Ground-ball single up middle Wagner 3RD Line-drive double to left-center Wagner 5TH 2-run homer to left-field bullpen Wagner 6TH Leadoff single to left field Gordon 8TH Triple off right-center-field wall Pecota