Today we have a battle of pitchers who had been underwhelming so far this year.
They both pitched scoreless innings until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Royals manufactured a run out of a Bobby Witt Jr. double. 1-0 Royals. They added another run that inning when Isaac Collins singled home Starling Marte with two outs. 2-0 Royals. An Elias Diaz double plated two more runs. 4-0 Royals. The Angels challenged whether the ball was foul and also challenged a tag play at the plate on Collins. The Angels lost their challenge.
A double by Michael Massey made the score 5-0. Kikuchi finally got Nick Loftin to ground out for the third out.
The Angels promptly threatened in the fifth inning when Vaughn Grissom doubled and Logan O’Hoppe singled. Bryce Teodosio struck out and Zach Neto hit into an unassisted double play at third to end that threat. Yusei Kikuchi settled back in for a scoreless fifth inning. He closed the barn door after five cows got out. No Angels scored in the sixth inning, although Jo Adell got a hit.
Shaun Anderson came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth inning. He allowed a couple of base runners but stranded them.
Vaughn Grissom doubled again in the seventh inning. Schanuel had grounded out to lead off the inning. Logan O’Hoppe drew an eight pitch walk. Bryce Teodosio got a single to load the bases with one out for Zach Neto. Neto got a funky little fly ball single to center to score Grissom. 4-1 Royals.
Nick Mears replaced Noah Cameron on the mound. Mike Trout came up with the bases still loaded and one out. He walked. 5-2 Royals.
Jo Adell grounded into a force out to score Teodosio. 5-3 Royals.
Jorge Soler walked to load the bases again. And once again, Kurt Suzuki pinch hit Moncada for Oswald Peraza. I don’t get it. Peraza can hit, unlike Moncada. Maybe it is veteran grit. Moncada struck out to end the Angels half of the inning.
Ryan Zeferjahn pitched a clean bottom of the seventh. The Angels went down very quietly in the eighth inning. Drew Pomeranz gave up a sixth Royals run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a hit, a steal and another hit.
Adam Frazier struck out. So did Zach Neto. Mike Trout walked. Jo Adell hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game. The Angels lost 6-3
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
