ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Taylor Ward homered, Kenley Jansen earned his 475th career save and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night to avoid a series sweep.
Yusei Kikuchi (7-11) gave up just one hit while striking out six over five innings. He was removed with a left forearm cramp before the sixth. Jansen struck out two in the ninth for his 28th save of the season.
Luis Rengifo doubled and scored on Oswald Peraza's groundout in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. Ward added a 320-foot solo home run in the third to became one of just three MLB players this season with at least 35 homers, 100 RBIs and 30 doubles.
Royals' starter Stephen Kolek (5-7) went six innings, giving up three runs on five hits while striking out two. In the fourth, Kolek tried to cut down Peraza at second, but his throw sailed wide of second baseman Jonathan India, allowing Peraza to score for a 3-0 lead.
Randal Grichuk's homer in the fifth was the only hit given up Kikuchi.
Carter Jensen scored to bring the Royals within a run of Los Angeles in the seventh inning.
The Angels entered the night with the worst save percentage (51%) in the majors and the highest bullpen ERA in the AL at 4.87. Los Angeles won for just the second time in its last 12 games.
Key moment
Second baseman Christian Moore laid out for a diving stop, then fired to first for the third out of the seventh, preserving the Angels’ 3–2 lead.
Key stat
The Royals came into the night averaging the third-fewest team errors per game in the majors (0.37), but gave up three against Los Angeles.
Up next
LHP Mitch Farris (1-2, 6.52 ERA) takes the mound for the Angels while Royals' RHP Michael Lorenzen (6-11, 4.70) gets the start in a series-closing matchup on Thursday.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.