ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Angels got a grand slam Sunday from their most unexpected power source -- or is it expected at this point?

David Eckstein, Anaheim's 5-foot-8 shortstop who hit grand slams on back-to-back days in April, hit his Major League-leading third of the year in the second inning.

The big blow from the little guy provided the winning runs as the Angels beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4, in front of an afternoon crowd of 35,501 at Edison Field.

"It's incredible and has basically won three games for us," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're looking for a hit and he gives us a home run."

Anaheim left-hander Scott Schoeneweis picked up from there, going 6 1/3 strong innings for the win. Schoeneweis hasn't lost a game since May 4 in Toronto.

The Angels (36-24) took two of three in the Interleague series and moved to within a game of the Seattle Mariners in the American League West division race. Seattle (38-24) lost to the Cubs on Sunday and is tied with the Angels in the loss column.

Cincinnati fell to 35-26 with the loss but kept its one-game lead in the NL Central over the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost to Kansas City on Sunday.

The Angels grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Eckstein led off with a triple off Reds starter Joey Hamilton (3-4) and scored on a Darin Erstad fielder's choice.

In the second frame, Tim Salmon hit a one-out infield single and was retired at second on an Orlando Palmeiro fielder's choice. Bengie Molina came up next and singled Palmeiro to second. Adam Kennedy walked, setting the table for Eckstein's slam.

Eckstein, who hit four homers in all of 2001, his rookie season, now has four homers this year, and three of them are grand slams.

He lined a 1-2 Hamilton pitch into the first row of the left-field seats near the foul pole, about 331 feet from home plate.

"It was a slider and I got the good part of the bat on it," Eckstein said. "It was the furthest thing from my mind to hit a home run, and it's highly unlikely that it will happen again. You go up there trying to hit a home run, you don't have a shot."

After that, the game was academic.

Schoeneweis' sinker was sinking and it tricked the Cincinnati hitters into seven ground balls, including two double plays. He gave up seven hits -- all singles -- while striking out four and walking three to improve to 5-4 on the year and lower his ERA from 4.77 to 4.50.

"I thought Schoenie did a terrific job to pitch us deep into the game," Scioscia said. "He really settled in -- the last 10 batters was some of the best basebal he pitched all game."

The Reds made it a 5-1 ballgame in the top of the fourth when Adam Dunn hit a leadoff single, was pushed to third by an Austin Kearns' single, and scored on a Todd Walker fielder's choice.

But the Angels gave Schoeneweis more insurance in the bottom of that inning courtesy of a Palmeiro leadoff walk, a Molina single, and a Kennedy triple that drove in two to make it 7-1.

Angels reliever Al Levine surrendered a ninth-inning solo home run to the newest Red, Russell Branyan, who came to Cincinnati in a trade from Cleveland on Friday, to make it 7-2.

The Reds loaded the bases in the ninth off Levine and Kearns singled in two runs off Angels closer Troy Percival to make it 7-4, before Percival struck out Aaron Boone to end the game and notch his 13th save of the year.

"The main thing is that we came out with a victory," Eckstein said while being swarmed by reporters after the game. "We feel like we have a championship-quality team and we're very confident."