Damon's six hits lead Yankees to win over Royals

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnny Damon produced a record-equaling six hits and a walk-off single to lift the New York Yankees to a 12-11 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

Damon singled off Royals pitcher Joakim Soria in the bottom of the ninth to score Wilson Betemit for the winning run.

The Yankees left fielder was a perfect 6-for-6 with four RBIs. His six hits tied the American League record for a nine-inning game and he became the only New York player to achieve the feat at Yankee Stadium.

"All these great players that played here didn't do it," Damon told reporters. "I was fortunate to have that opportunity to do it. I'm definitely blessed."

New York erased a four-run deficit by scoring two runs in each of its last three innings.

The Royals led 11-10 in the bottom of the ninth before Jorge Posada homered to tie the game.

Alex Rodriguez added a two-run home run in the seventh inning, his ninth of the season.

Right fielder Jose Guillen led the way for Kansas City with three hits and 7 RBIs and the Royals pounded Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte. The left-hander lasted 6 2/3 innings and allowed 10 runs.

Guillen's grand slam in the seventh inning gave the Royals a 10-6 advantage.

David DeJesus put Kansas City on top 11-10 with his solo home run to right-center field off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

"You want to win, but the one positive, I thought, was we didn't back down, we didn't fold," said Royals shortstop Mike Aviles. "Every time we needed to score runs, we scored runs, and we kept being aggressive. Baseball's a funny game. Yesterday everything went our way, today it didn't."

(Reporting by Jahmal Corner; Editing by Ed Osmond)