Beltran, Royals Fly By Angels

For Carlos Beltran, the number 100 has a neat look.

Beltran hit a two-run homer to become the first AL rookie with 100 RBIs since Mark McGwire as the Kansas City Royals beat the Anaheim Angels 7-1 Thursday.

"Coming into this year, I was just thinking I wanted to have a good year," he said. "I never imagined I could get 100 RBIs. But when I got closer to it, it was something I wanted to get."

He got it quickly Thursday. After Ramon Ortiz (1-3) walked Rey Sanchez in the first inning, Beltran hit a 402-foot drive deep into the right-field bleachers to become the first rookie with 100 RBIs since Mike Piazza drove in 112 for Los Angeles in 1993.

Royals manager Tony Muser didn't need Beltran to reach the milestone to understand his value.

"I think he's Rookie of the Year, but I'm partial," Muser said. "I've got to see him every day and I don't think there has been another rookie out there every day like Carlos."

"People who think he deserves it will vote for him, but they may just see his stats. He's done a lot of things besides the 21 home runs and the 100 RBIs. He's gone over the wall to take away a home run. He's stolen bases and got the clutch hits. He's done the little intangible things to help us win," he said.

Angels interim manager Joe Maddon was impressed with what he saw in the four-game series.

"Beltran's a good-looking young player, one of the better ones I've seen in quite some time," Maddon said. "The kid is the real thing. He's legit."

Jeff Suppan (10-9) pitched a six-hitter for his fourth complete game of the year, striking ou five and walking one.

"He had great control and pitched inside well," Muser said of Suppan, who needed just 99 pitches to extend his career-high victory total. "When he's pitching like that, he makes it easy to set your defense."

Tim Spehr hit a solo home run and rookie Mark Quinn drove in two runs as Kansas City stopped Anaheim's five-game winning streak and snapped its own four-game losing skid.

Beltran also scored his 99th run on the homer, leaving him one run short of becoming the first rookie with 100 RBIs and 100 runs in a season since Fred Lynn did it with Boston in 1975.

Jermaine Dye walked after Beltran's homer. Mike Sweeney, who went 3-for-3, then drove in his 97th run with a double to put the Royals ahead 3-0.

Ben Molina doubled and eventually scored on Jeff DaVanon's groundout in the third for Anaheim's only run.

Despite the loss, the Angels finished the road trip with a 6-2 mark and have won nine of their last 11.

"It was a great trip for us," Maddon said. "And we did well against teams we notoriously have trouble with on the road. But their pitcher did a great job and Kansas City has a good hitting team."

The Royals extended their lead to 5-1 in the fourth. Sweeney singled and Joe Randa, who went 3-for-4, doubled. Quinn hit an RBI single and Randa scored on Molina's passed ball.

Spehr made it 6-1 in the sixth with his eighth home run off reliever Steve Mintz. Quinn added an RBI double in the eighth.

Ortiz, making his sixth major league start, allowed five runs on six hits and four walks in three innings.

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