Jo Adell’s three-run homer sparked the Los Angeles Angels early, and a four-run seventh inning helped put away the Kansas City Royals in a 9-3 victory on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Adell, who also homered on Friday, came to the plate with two on and one out in the second inning against Royals starter Cole Ragans (2-3) and hit a 1-2 slider over the wall in left-center for his seventh homer of the season.
Adell is tied with Taylor Ward for the second-most homers on the team, with both trailing Mike Trout (10).
Kevin Pillar, starting in center field for the Angels, had three hits, including a triple and a two-out, two-run single in the seventh. He finished with three RBIs.
All the offense benefited Angels starter Tyler Anderson (3-4), who earned the victory after working 6 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk, striking out four.
The Royals took a 1-0 lead against Anderson in the top of the first inning when Bobby Witt Jr. reached on an infield single, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Salvador Perez.
Anderson, though, settled in from there. He kept the Royals off the board until they scored once in the sixth inning on Witt’s RBI single. Witt stole second base, his second steal of the game, but was thrown out trying to steal third by catcher Logan O’Hoppe, helping Anderson get out of the inning without further damage.
Kyle Isbel’s two-out RBI single in the seventh cut the Angels’ lead to 5-3 and spelled the end of the night for Anderson. Reliever Adam Cimber retired Maikel Garcia for the final out of the inning, stranding runners on first and second.
The Angels added four insurance runs in the seventh, getting the two-run single by Pillar and a two-run double by O’Hoppe. After going 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position on Friday, the Angels went 4-for-9 in scoring situations on Saturday.
Ragans yielded seven runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked one and fanned three.
–Field Level Media
