Fan Interference Helps Angels Rally to Win, 6-2

Fan interference was just the latest oddity to strike David Cone’s season. Of course, he didn’t help his cause with six walks and a hit batsman.

Cone was cruising with a shutout through seven innings when the Angels rallied for four runs in the eighth to beat Cone and the Kansas City Royals, 6-2, Saturday night.

The bases were loaded when the Angels’ Eduardo Perez hit a line drive to the top of the left-field wall. A fan tried to catch the ball, but dropped it. The umpires allowed all three runners to score.

“There were two outs and he was off at the crack of the bat,” Angel Manager Buck Rogers said of Greg Myers, who scored from first. “He was around second when the fan touched the ball. It’s the home plate umpire’s decision on where he thinks the man on first is going to be. Myers was on the run with the pitch.”

Royal Manager Hal McRae argued the call.

“It was my argument that they had a catcher on first so he can’t run,” McRae said. “My argument was that there is a catcher on first base and he’s not going to score on a ball off the wall. But it was the umpire’s judgment that he had passed second when the fan touched the ball.”

Chad Curtis hit a pinch-hit single to start the eighth and scored on Luis Polonia’s triple.

Polonia was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Kevin Koslofski on Stan Javier’s fly to right center, but Cone (11-13) walked J.T. Snow and Chili Davis and hit Myers to load the bases.

The Angels added two in the ninth when Curtis hit a leadoff triple off reliever Billy Brewer and scored on Polonia’s sacrifice fly. Myers’ RBI single made it 6-1.

George Brett singled in the ninth to close out the scoring.

Phillip Leftwich (4-6) gave up five hits and one run in seven innings before giving way to Joe Grahe, who pitched the final two innings for his 10th save.