Night Belongs to Smith and the Andersons : Baseball: Reliever gets another save, starter is sharp in return, and outfielder gets an assist in Angels’ 3-2 victory.

It was as if Angel pitcher Brian Anderson was placed in a cryogenic freeze for six weeks and defrosted for Tuesday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals.

The left-hander, out since May 5 because of a strained left biceps, picked up almost exactly where he left off, giving up only one run in 6 1/3 innings to lead the Angels to a 3-2 victory over the Royals before an announced crowd of 15,100 at Anaheim Stadium.

Lee Smith pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 18th save in 18 appearances, breaking his major league record of 17 in a row, set with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1993. But credit left fielder Garret Anderson with an assist.

Anderson threw out Pat Borders at the plate to end the seventh inning and made a running, lunging, back-hand snag of Gary Gaetti’s drive in front of the left-center field wall for the first out of the ninth.

“That was a great play and was pretty much typical of the way we’ve been winning a lot of games this year,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “He made that play and the throw to the plate, which Jorge [Fabregas, catcher] made a great play on.

“We just caught the ball well, and Brian Anderson was outstanding. You could see he was a little tired in the seventh, but he gave us a great effort.”

The last time Anderson took the Anaheim Stadium mound he cruised through the first four innings against the Seattle Mariners, giving up four hits and no runs.

But Anderson felt a twinge in his arm in the fifth and was immediately pulled. What was initially believed to be a minor injury turned into a four-week stay on the disabled list and two-week rehabilitation stint at Class-A Lake Elsinore.

Anderson’s stamina may not be in midseason form, but he had command of his fastball, slider and changeup Tuesday night and his control was excellent. He gave up only three hits, walked one and struck out one.

“My whole game is to get ahead of people and throw strikes, and that’s what I was able to do,” said Anderson, who threw 89 pitches, one less than Lachemann’s 90-pitch limit. “I felt real confident after my rehab went so well. Overall, I’m very pleased.”

Anderson ran into trouble in the seventh when he walked Phil Hiatt with one out and gave up a single to left by Borders.

Lachemann went to his bullpen for setup man Troy Percival, who got pinch-hitter Wally Joyner to ground to the hole at second, where Spike Owen made a nice, sliding stop and threw to first. Hiatt scored on the play, making the score 3-1, and Borders advanced to second.

Pinch-hitter Keith Lockhart then singled to left. Anderson charged and caught the ball on one hop and fired a one-hopper to Fabregas, who applied the tag on Borders before he stepped on the plate for the final out of the inning.

The Royals pulled to within 3-2 in the eighth when Percival’s control--and focus--took a brief recess. Vince Coleman walked with one out and stole second and third, in part because Percival did a poor job of holding him on.

That allowed Coleman to score on Edgar Caceres’ groundout, but Percival got Greg Gagne to fly out to end the inning.

It appeared Gaetti, whose two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth beat the Angels on May 13, would put the first blemish on Smith’s 0.00 earned run average in the ninth, but Anderson’s catch snuffed out the Royals.

What did Smith think when the ball left Gaetti’s bat?

“Double,” he said. “I didn’t see Garret catch the ball. But I didn’t see the ball hit the ground, either.”

Royal starter Mark Gubicza was coming off perhaps his best outing of his 11-year career, a one-hit shutout of the Oakland Athletics last Thursday, but the Angels roughed him up for three runs, two of them earned, and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.