Edmonds’ Single Bails Out Angels : Baseball: His hit in ninth inning beats Royals, 7-6, after a rocky start by Magrane.

The jury, so close to a verdict on Joe Magrane last week, remained out after the Angels’ 7-6 victory over Kansas City Friday night at Anaheim Stadium.

Whatever Buck Rodgers considered doing with Magrane--and he had indicated Magrane needed a dramatic turnaround to hold onto his starting spot--became a moot point when he was fired Tuesday.

Now, new Manager Marcel Lachemann is granting Magrane a stay.

The Angels won Friday’s game on Jim Edmonds’ run-scoring single to left with two out in the bottom of the ninth.

Credit for the victory also goes to Mark Leiter, who silenced the Royals after they had taken a 6-3 lead in the top of the fourth. He won his first game in his new role as long reliever.

“I’ve got to sit down with Chuck (Hernandez, the pitching coach) and go over some stuff,” Lachemann said. “And I’ve got to sit down with Joe. But this one outing doesn’t necessarily mean you pull the plug.”

In the fourth inning, Magrane stood, hands on hips, staring down in disgust at his shoetops. Only moments before, he had given up his second home run of the game and Lachemann walked to the mound to replace him with Leiter.

At the time, it looked as if Magrane and the Angels were sure losers.

But Leiter (3-3) kept the Royals scoreless with only one hit and one walk through 5 1/3 innings in his second relief appearance since Rodgers moved him to the bullpen Monday.

Leiter retired 16 of 18 batters he faced and had four strikeouts. Plus, he gave the Angels a shot at winning after they trailed, 6-3, after 3 1/2 innings.

“Leiter threw outstanding,” Lachemann said. “He’s just out of the rotation, so the number of innings wasn’t a problem. He could have gone a couple more. He was throwing hard and did a real good job with his slider.”

Kansas City starter Jeff Granger failed to last past the fifth, giving up homers to Rex Hudler and Bo Jackson. Jackson’s blast, which brought the Angels to within 6-5 in the fifth inning, was estimated at 460 feet, landing some 25 rows deep into the football bleachers beyond the left-center field wall.

The Angels tied it, 6-6, in the sixth when Chili Davis grounded into a fielder’s choice off reliever Hipolito Pichardo, driving in Chad Curtis from third.

“We should have won this game with six runs,” Kansas City Manager Hal McRae said. “It comes down to pitching and whoever pitches well gets the win.

“Good pitching wins ballgames. You get it, you win games. You don’t, you lose.”

As hard as it was to fathom, Magrane’s performance Friday was worse than his last start Sunday against Seattle.

Sunday, he pitched into the fifth inning before the Mariners finished him off, battering him for five runs and eight hits with five walks in 4 1/3 innings.

That’s when Rodgers sounded off, wondering if it was asking too much to win with three pitchers who have been released by other clubs.

Rodgers’ brutal honesty probably cost him his job, but Friday’s crowd of 23,339 saw why Magrane is no longer pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals. Leiter and John Dopson also were cut by their previous employers.

Friday, Magrane lasted only until the fourth, giving up six runs and six hits with two walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch in 3 2/3 innings.

In 19 innings over four starts since returning from elbow surgery, Magrane has given up 24 hits, including six home runs, and 18 earned runs. His earned-run average is 8.53.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him throw,” Lachemann said. “We missed him last year with the Cardinals. The solo home runs aren’t going to beat you.”

A chopper back to the mound that Magrane couldn’t field set up much of his trouble in a four-run third that was punctuated by a three-run homer by former Angel Gary Gaetti.

Magrane jumped for Felix Jose’s high bouncer but couldn’t field it cleanly and that brought up Gaetti.

“That one pitch, that ball back to him,” Lachemann said. “If he fields it, it ends the inning. He may have gone seven or eight, I don’t know.”