Royals Reshuffle, Deal Ace to Angels : Baseball: Appier gets extra day of rest, then wins, 8-5, at Anaheim Stadium.

Rick Burleson, Angel third-base coach, was counting the days on a giant wall schedule in the team’s clubhouse last week.

Kansas City ace Kevin Appier had pitched Wednesday in Seattle and the Royals were using a four-man rotation, so he would pitch again Sunday in Oakland and miss the three-game series against the Angels this week.

Wrong.

Burleson’s forecast needed to be altered Saturday, and by Monday night the storm cloud that is Appier was on the Anaheim Stadium mound, sticking it to the Angels again in an 8-5 Kansas City victory before an paid crowd of 14,150.

The loss might have been costly for the Angels when their top hitter, Chili Davis, stumbled over the first-base bag and injured his leg while beating out a fielder’s choice in the ninth inning.

Davis, second in the American League in batting (.359) and fourth in runs batted in (38), was diagnosed with a strained left hamstring and his status is day-to-day.

“The good news is he didn’t feel anything pop,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “The not-so-good news is there’s already swelling. We’ll probably know more in the next 48 hours.”

More good news for Lachemann: The Angels won’t have to face Appier in the next 48 hours.

Appier, the high-strung right-hander with an unorthodox motion, blazing fastball and nasty slider, wasn’t quite as dominant Monday as he was against the Angels on May 13, when he threw a three-hitter in a 4-2 victory.

But he appeared in control, striking out eight during a seven-inning stint in which he allowed three runs and nine hits.

Appier’s performance, which made him baseball’s first 10-game winner, was all the more important because Royal reliever Billy Brewer gave up two runs in the eighth inning, cutting the Angel deficit to 8-5. But Jeff Montgomery retired the final two batters in the ninth for the Royals.

“You have to try to make him throw strikes and take what you can,” said Davis, who struck out twice and doubled in the eighth against Appier. “He can be wild, so if you go out and swing at everything he’s going to beat you. If you’re selective, you have a chance, but you have to get him early and often.”

The Angels weren’t expecting to get him at all, but when Appier threw 141 pitches in his last start, Manager Bob Boone inserted veteran Dennis Rasmussen into the rotation Saturday to give Appier an extra day’s rest.

Appier, who ranks second in the league in strikeouts (95) and earned run average (2.19), pitched five scoreless innings Monday and had a four-run lead before J.T. Snow singled and scored on Garret Anderson’s triple in the sixth. Anderson scored on Damion Easley’s groundout to cut make it 4-2.

Angel starter Shawn Boskie (5-1) was even more impressive than Appier--for five innings. Jon Nunnally broke up his no-hitter with a triple down the right-field line to lead off the sixth, and Edgar Caceres ended his shutout bid with an RBI double to right.

Brent Mayne singled Caceres to third, from which he scored on Goodwin’s fielder’s choice, and Wally Joyner followed with a two-run home run, giving Kansas City a 4-0 lead and ending Boskie’s evening.

“I felt kind of sick [with flu symptoms] going into the game,” said Boskie, who failed in his bid to become the first pitcher in Angel history to start 6-0. “And I felt my best going into the sixth inning. It’s funny how those things work out.”

The Angels came right back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Royals added four in the eighth off middle relievers Mike Butcher and Russ Springer.

“We had some chances against Appier, but you’re not going to beat him if he gets five or eight runs,” Lachemann said. “It needs to be 4-3 or something like that.”