McPherson Is Guardian Angel Again

Second place can wait, at least for a day, maybe for a season.

On the verge of falling out of first place in the American League West for the first time this season, the Angels put on quite a late show on Friday.

They tied the score with five runs in the ninth inning, and rookie Dallas McPherson hit a walkoff home run in the 10th inning of a dramatic 9-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium.

For the second consecutive night, McPherson hit the game-winning homer, with teammates mobbing him at home plate and an announced crowd of 40,834 cheering wildly.

The Angels rallied from an 8-3 deficit, their biggest ninth-inning comeback to force extra innings in five years.

“I hate to say it, but I had already conceded,” pitcher Paul Byrd said. “I should never do that. I apologize. That was awesome.”

The Angels and Texas Rangers remained tied atop the AL West. Scot Shields, and his 0.93 earned-run average, earned the victory.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th, McPherson homered off Mike MacDougal.

“That was great,” McPherson said, “but I’m not as down and frustrated as y’all make me out to be. I’ve been through slumps before. I’ve been hot before. I’ll go through both again.”

He has hit two homers and driven in four runs over his past two games, after one and three in his first 30 games, prompting the Angels to support him publicly and privately amid talk of a demotion to the minor leagues.

“You read in the papers where they say, how long are they going to wait?” Byrd said. “You can feel that tension.”

Said second baseman Adam Kennedy: “People can talk to you until you’re blue in the face. Until you feel like you’re contributing, it’s tough, and now he’s contributed in a big way.”

The Angels couldn’t have done it without Angel -- Kansas City shortstop Angel Berroa, that is -- who made two errors that set up four unearned runs in the ninth inning.

With three outs at their disposal, the Angels trailed by five runs. Since they had scored more than five runs in a game twice since April 23, the notion of scoring five in an inning appeared implausible.

Juan Rivera walked, Bengie Molina reached base on an error by Berroa, and the crowd hardly stirred. McPherson singled home Rivera, Orlando Cabrera singled to load the bases, and there was modest excitement.

With the Angels down, 8-4, Kennedy hit what appeared to be a routine grounder to Berroa, one out for sure, maybe two.

But Berroa sailed his throw well over the head of second baseman Ruben Gotay and toward the right-field line.

And the crowd finally roared. Molina scored. So did McPherson, and Cabrera too. Kennedy sped to third, and all of a sudden the Angels trailed by one, with none out.

On the next pitch, Chone Figgins singled home Kennedy, tying the score, 8-8.

Outfielder Garret Anderson twisted his right ankle in the ninth, when he slipped and fell while charging a line drive that turned into a single and three-base error.

He remained in the game and said he expected to play tonight.