By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Anaheim Angels' Troy Glaus and San Francisco Giants' Benito Santiago watch Glaus' two-run double during the eighth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

ANAHEIM --- You had to know the Anaheim Angels would not go quietly. They didn't. Instead, they came back -- loudly.

The amazing Angels erased a five-run deficit in the final three innings to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in Game 6 before a crowd of 44,506 noisemakers at Edison Field.

It was an instant classic.

"I go back to Kirk Gibson in 1988," Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said, "and I think this surpassed it."

The victory forced a seventh game in the World Series.

With the Angels down 5-0, Scott Spiezio hit a three-run homer in the seventh and Darin Erstad hit a solo shot to leadoff the eighth. That made it 5-4.

Tim Salmon then singled. Garret Anderson followed with a double. Glaus made the comeback complete with two-run double in the left-center gap off San Francisco closer Robb Nen, who had just entered the game.

The comeback was complete and a World Series classis was nearly complete.

"Both teams battle," Scioscia said. "When you do that, you have a chanced for something special. You saw that tonight."

The Giants appeared to be on their way to clinching their first world title since 1954.

Until the seventh, in fact, it was all San Francisco. Shawon Dunston broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the fifth. Barry Bonds seemed to break the Angels' collective heart with thunderclap shot way up in the right field bleachers off super rookie Francisco Rodriguez.

The Giants would build the lead to 5-0 before the Angels rallied.

"I knew if we could string some hits together, we could get back in it," Scioscia. "I just didn't know it could happen that fast. It was great to watch."

"We never gave up," Spiezio said. "The fans didn't give up. They helped us come back,"

San Francisco starter Russ Ortiz rebounded from an awful start in Game 2 will a solid one. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two ruins on four hits. He did not allow a runner to reach second until the sixth and it was a 5-0 game when he left.

The Giants' power looked to be too much to overcome. The two bombs gave them 14 homers for the series, a record, and 27 for the postseason, also a record. No team had hit more than 19 in any postseason before this year.

The pitching matchup was a rematch of the Game 2. Both Anaheim's Kevin Appier and Ortiz got off to much better starts this time around.

The pair combined to give up 12 runs on 14 hits in 3 2/3 innings Game 2.

Through four innings Saturday, they had given one hit each.

Ortiz did not allow a hit until Salmon's two-out infield single in the fourth.

Appier's trouble started in the fifth. David Bell, the Moeller guy, led off with an infield single for his seventh hit of the series. Rodriguez began warming up with Dunston at the plate.

Dunston, the designated hitter, was getting his first start of the series. He had only one hit in six at-bats in the series. He had only one home run all season.

Appier tried to get 1-1 pitch in on Dunston's hands. Dunston fisted it into the left field seats. It was home run since April 15.

Appier was gone after the next hitter, Kenny Lofton, drove a double to center.

The Angels brought in Francisco.

Lofton stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

That made it 3-0, which looked like a very large lead the way Ortiz was throwing.

When Bonds went deep to lead off the sixth, it looked the Giants were a lock to win their first series title since moving to California.

When Lofton singled, stole second went to third on Molina's errant throw and scored on Jeff Kent's single, even the crowd at Edison was beginning to quiet down..

"We were confident," San Francisco manager Dusty Baker said. "But we never thought it was over. We know what a great offense they have."

But the Angels perked them back up in the seventh. Glaus hit back-to-back singles with one out.

The Giants brought in former Red Felix Rodriguez, who had pitched in all five previous series games, to face Spiezio. Spiezio worked the count to 3-2 by fouling off four strikes.

Spiezio got under a 95-mph fastball, but he got enough of it to carry in into the seats in right field.

"He battled," Scioscia said. "He fought off some tough pitches. He hit a good pitch."

"I just got enough it," Spiezio said. "I kept just missing."

The Angels were alive.

"The three-run got them going," Baker said.

They were really going when Darin Erstad led off the eighth with a bolt to right for a home run to cut it 5-4.

Tim Worrell, who had allowed one hit 4 1/3 innings in the series entering Game 6, finished the seventh.

After the homer and the two hits, the Giants brought Nen into a nearly impossible save situation: No outs, runners at first and third.

The Giants chose not to walk Glaus.

"He's prone to the strikeout," Baker said. "We were hoping to get strikeout. Then we were going to pitch to (Brad) Fuller and walk Spiezio, who's hot. It didn't work out that way."

That's because Glaus sent a laser that split left fielder Bonds and center fielder Lofton.

"I was just trying to get a groundball to get the run in and keep us going," Glaus said.

Nen got out of it from there.

That put game in closer Troy Percival's hands. Percival hadn't pitched since his one-inning save in Game 2, noted mostly for Bonds' 485-foot homer run.

But Percival finished it, working a 1-2-3 ninth.