Angels Bust as Royals Hit on 21 : Baseball: California makes four errors behind McCaskill and falls a game back of Twins in the West, 12-5. Seitzer goes five for five.

The Angels’ hasty exit from Anaheim Stadium Thursday was planned in advance, to allow them a quick escape to the airport while the crowd of 61,056 watched the postgame fireworks show.

They didn’t intend to sneak out under the cover of darkness. But their hurry to shower and pack for their trip to Texas intensified after their pitching and defense fell apart in a 12-5 loss to the Kansas City Royals, and they fell out of first place in the American League West.

“Leaving the scene of the crime,” outfielder Max Venable said, forcing a smile.

Angel starter Kirk McCaskill (7-10) struggled from the start, making it through 3 2/3 innings only because center fielder Dave Gallagher threw Kevin Seitzer (five for five) out at home in the second inning and left fielder Luis Polonia threw out two runners at second, getting Jim Eisenreich trying to stretch a single in the first inning and Mike Macfarlane trying to stretch a single in the second inning.

McCaskill’s command and his defense deserted him in the fourth, when the Angels committed two of their four errors. Five Royals drove in a run and a fielding error by right fielder Dave Winfield permitted the sixth to score as Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate and jumped to an 8-1 lead.

The Angels scored four times in the

eighth to stir some excitement from the festive crowd, but Kevin Appier (5-7) and Jeff Montgomery combined to frustrate them and end the Angels’ one-day stay in first place. They are a game behind the Minnesota Twins, who defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 1-0, Thursday.

“I think everybody is entitled to an off day. Maybe entitled isn’t the right word, but it’s to be expected from time to time,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said.

“We just didn’t locate the ball particularly well pitching, and we didn’t play well. The offense deserves some credit. . . . Sometimes these things happen. They’re human beings.”

If they looked all too humanly frail in yielding 21 hits, the most they have given up since the Baltimore Orioles collected 26 on Aug. 28, 1980, no one in the Angels’ clubhouse was overly concerned.

“They just pounded us tonight. This isn’t the end of the season,” catcher Lance Parrish said. “We feel like we’ve gained momentum. We’ve inched our way up top and we feel we’re going to move up to the top and keep pushing. This isn’t really that devastating.”

Disappointing, certainly. “We had the feeling (of being in first place) at least for one day and tomorrow, we can be there again,” Polonia said. “If we win and Minnesota loses, we’ll be back there. This isn’t a big thing. We’ll be up there again.”

Getting his pitches up in the strike zone contributed toward McCaskill’s fifth loss in his past six decisions.

“He was just pitching behind people, and as we all know, you can’t do that and have a lot of hope for success,” Parrish said of McCaskill, who was among the first players out of the Angels’ clubhouse and onto the bus to the airport.

“You can’t leave pitches over the plate when the count is 1-and-0, 2- and-0, 3-and-0. Hitters had the opportunity to sit on certain pitches, and they did. They were hitting everything we threw up there.”

The Royals produced two hits off Floyd Bannister, who followed McCaskill in the fourth, and added five hits and three runs (two of them earned) off Joe Grahe. Cliff Young was also on their hit parade, giving up four hits and a run in the ninth.

“The guys who played, they really had a lot of fun,” said Brian McRae, who drove in a run in the fourth with a double. “You hope it carries over to the next game.”

The Angels were eager to leave the distasteful memory of Thursday’s loss in the clubhouse, along with the spare shoes and socks they didn’t stuff into their suitcases for their three-game series at Texas.

“It’s going to be very difficult to go in there and sweep them. It’s going to be difficult to beat them, period,” Parrish said. “But I certainly think we’re going to be able to rebound.

“I don’t think anybody is going to take it too hard. It was nice to be in first place for a day, but now we’ve got to get back to the grindstone and get it back together.”