Salmon, Erstad Resurface in Win

This wasn’t a baseball game so much as it was a joyous reunion, the old Tim Salmon and the old Darin Erstad getting together and reminiscing about what they used to do for the Angels way back in 2000.

Those were the days, weren’t they? Salmon jumping all over mistake pitches, lining balls over the wall and driving in runs in bunches. Erstad drilling hits to all fields and setting the table as efficiently as an English butler.

Salmon and Erstad provided flashbacks to those days of yore and eased the pain of their season-long slumps Thursday night, their bats helping the Angels to a 7-6, 10-inning victory over the Kansas City Royals before 13,763 in Edison Field, the smallest crowd since the stadium was remodeled in 1997.

Bengie Molina provided the game-winning hit, erasing the bitter taste of closer Troy Percival’s blown save with a two-out single to right-center off closer Roberto Hernandez in the 10th to score Garret Anderson.

Salmon, a career .291 hitter and consistent run-producer who entered with a .230 average, 13 homers and 39 runs batted in, belted a pair of two-run home runs off starter Paul Byrd, a towering shot to center in the first inning and a liner around the left-field foul pole in the fifth, for his 18th career multiple-homer game.

Erstad, whose .259 average, eight homers and 60 RBIs are a Grand Canyon-like drop from his .355 average, 25 homers and 100 RBIs in 2000, hit the ball sharply three times, singling to center and scoring in the first, singling to left in the second and doubling to left in the fourth.

Too bad Percival suffered his own 2000 flashback, when he was saddled with arm problems and blew 10 saves.

Angel starter Scott Schoeneweis left with a 6-1 lead and two on in the eighth, only to have reliever Al Levine give up a two-run double to Mark Quinn.

Percival took over with a 6-3 lead in the ninth and retired the first two batters. But Carlos Beltran blasted a three-run homer to right-center. It was Percival’s third blown save in 41 opportunities.

Molina lined a 1-0 Hernandez pitch to right-center for his game-winner.