GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: KANSAS CITY (31-46) at LA ANGELS (49-28)

Meche shuts down Angels as Royals win third straight

<h3>KANSAS CITY 12, LA ANGELS 4</h3>ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Gil Meche and the Kansas CityRoyals accomplished something few teams have recently - beat theLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim at home.

Meche threw six solid innings and the Royals used three homeruns to cruise to a 12-4 victory over the Angels on Tuesday.

Meche (5-6) yielded three runs and seven hits over six inningswith six strikeouts, and rookies Billy Butler and Alex Gordonhomered as the Royals handed the Angels just their fifth loss intheir last 23 home games.

The 29-year-old Meche also beat the Angels on May 3 by limitingthem to two runs and two hits over seven innings. Therighthander threw 61 of 95 pitches for strikes and walked justone to win for just the second time in 10 starts and improve to7-2 lifetime against the Angels.

"I don't know why but it's just one of those things when youpitch good against a team and bad against others," Meche said."I did face them a lot when I was in Seattle so I am familiarwith their hitters."

Meche bounced back after going 0-5 with a 5.76 ERA in his lastfive starts, but said there was room for improvement.

"I didn't think I had my best stuff tonight to pull off thewin," Meche said. "I'm still waiting for my arm to come aroundand get stronger so I can go deeper into games."

Angels manager Mike Scioscia was not surprised his team finallyfaltered at home after being so dominant here for most of theseason.

"It's baseball and we know that we can't win every series andevery game at home," Scioscia said.

Butler hit his first career home run in the fourth and Gordonadded a three-run shot in the eighth, driving in a career-highfour runs as Kansas City won three straight for the first timesince May 16-18.

"I'm glad I hit it and got it past me," Butler said. "Now Ijust hope more come for me. I just try to help the team win inany way and help contribute."

With the scored tied at 1-1 in the fifth, Joey Gathwright ledoff the frame with a double to left. After Angels starter ErvinSantana (5-8) hit David DeJesus, Gathwright scored when thirdbaseman Chone Figgins committed a throwing error on a sacrificeattempt by Esteban German.

Mark Teahen followed with a double to to right that platedDeJesus, and German scored when Santana uncorked a wild pitch,making the score 4-1. Gordon then drove in a run with a singleto left.

"It was just one of those games where we weren't as sharp as welike to be with the gloves," Figgins said.

It marked the second straight rough home outing for Santana, whosurrendered seven runs - six earned - and nine hits in fiveframes. Santana also was touched up for four runs and nine hitsin 6 2/3 innings against Houston last Wednesday.

"I made a lot of bad pitches (in the fifth) inning, and we justdidn't play defense the way we know how," Santana said. "Wejust have to come out here tomorrow and try to steal a win inthe series."

Anaheim, which entered the game with the best home mark inbaseball, pulled within 5-3 in the sixth thanks to an RBIgroundout by Casey Kotchman.

However, John Buck hit his 14th homer of the season and DeJesusadded a sacrifice fly in the sixth to put the game away at 7-2.