Kansas City, Mo. ? Ten years seemed to melt away right before Kevin Appier’s eyes.

It was 1993 again. He was the young ace of the Kansas City staff, on his way to winning 18 games. Kauffman Stadium was full. The Royals were in a pennant race and quite handily beating the New York Yankees.

He’s not young anymore, and this is 2003. But all the rest was the same Wednesday night. Appier reintroduced himself to Kansas City by pitching six shutout innings as the Royals routed New York, 11-0, for their first home series victory over the Yankees in 10 years.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Appier, the longtime Royals pitcher who was traded away in 1999.

“Every win is huge,” he added, “but coming back here and being able to help these guys in a pennant race — it feels really good. It feels tremendous.”

Mike Sweeney drove in four runs and Brent Mayne had four hits and two RBIs for the Royals, whose $41 million payroll is less than one-quarter of the $180 million carried by the Yankee franchise that has dominated them for almost a decade.

“This means we can play with anybody,” manager Tony Pena said.

Kansas City's Kevin Appier delivers against New York. Appier allowed three hits in six innings, and the Royals shut out the Yankees, 11-0, Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

By taking two of the three games, the surprise leaders in the AL Central won their first home series from the Yankees since Sept. 10-12, 1993.

Until this week, New York hadn’t lost a game in Kansas City since 2000 and hadn’t dropped the season series at Kauffman in nine years.

The Yankees have lost four of five. This was their most lopsided loss of the year.

“We have to turn the page and fix what went wrong tonight,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “We have to win in Baltimore and make sure this game doesn’t carry over.”

Appier walked one and struck out two in his first home start since the Royals picked him up Aug. 6.

¢ 6Sports video: Royals beat Yankees handily

The 35-year-old right-hander, who has kept his home in Kansas City, had been released July 30 by Anaheim after the Yankees, of all teams, roughed him up for five hits and four runs in just two-thirds of an inning.

“I didn’t get out of the first inning. That was ugly,” Appier said.

To make sure Appier received a curtain call, Pena let him warm up for the seventh inning before going out to the mound and bringing in Jeremy Affeldt. The crowd of nearly 35,596 stood and cheered.

“It was an incredibly generous ovation,” Appier said. “I genuinely appreciate it. That’s Tony. It made me feel really good.”

Kansas City's Dee Brown, left, beats a tag by New York third baseman Aaron Boone. Brown advanced from second base on a bunt by Ken Harvey in the fifth inning. The Royals won their series with the Yankees, two games to one, with an 11-0 victory Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Appier retired 11 in a row after Aaron Boone’s two-out single in the second. Affeldt pitched two innings and then Curtis Leskanic finished the shutout.

Sweeney had a two-run single and Dee Brown a sacrifice fly as the Royals jumped on Jeff Weaver (6-9) for three runs in the first.

Weaver went 61/3 innings and was charged with nine runs and 13 hits. He walked two and had five strikeouts.

“I’ve got no one to blame but myself,” Weaver said.

Angel Berroa made it 4-0 in the fourth with an RBI single that traveled only about 10 feet.

The ball bounced just in front of the plate and appeared to be rolling foul. But while catcher Jorge Posada stood over it and waited for the ball to cross the white line, it came to rest in the grass as Mayne sped home from third.

Mayne’s second double scored Brown and Ken Harvey and put the Royals on top 6-0 in the fifth.

In the seventh, Aaron Guiel had an RBI single and Sweeney hit a two-run single off Bret Prinz, who also yielded a two-run homer to Mendy Lopez in the eighth.

Notes: New York LHP David Wells underwent an MRI exam and doctors said he will miss one start. Sterling Hitchcock will fill in for him Saturday night against Baltimore. … Guiel has been hit by a pitch 11 times. He was playing center field for just the third time in his major league career. … The three-game series drew 113,822. … It was Lopez’s first home run since July 8, 2001, when he was with Houston.