Jo Adell carried the Los Angeles Angels on his bat Wednesday night, homering and driving in all four runs in a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Adell delivered his second straight go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, crushing a three-run shot to center on the first pitch he saw from reliever John Schreiber to give the Angels a 3-2 lead. In the eighth, after Yoán Moncada doubled, Adell came through again with a clutch two-out RBI single off Lucas Erceg (6-4) to put Los Angeles ahead for good. Adell now has a career-high 33 homers and 90 RBI.
Reid Detmers closed it out in the ninth with two strikeouts for his third save. Robert Stephenson (1-0) earned the win in relief.
Angels star Mike Trout missed his second straight game with a skin infection on his left arm.
For the Royals, Salvador Perez doubled in the seventh off Stephenson — his 33rd of the season and 625th extra-base hit of his career, tying Frank White for third in franchise history. Adam Frazier followed with an RBI double to tie the game at 3 briefly.
Kansas City initially jumped ahead 2-0, scoring on a Mike Yastrzemski sacrifice fly in the first inning. Rookie starter Ryan Bergert impressed, allowing just one hit over five innings while striking out six, but his leadoff walk in the sixth opened the door for Adell’s game-changing blast.
Caden Dana, making his first start of the season and fourth of his career, held the Royals to two runs (one earned) on two hits across five innings.
Key Moment:
In the eighth, with the tying run on second, Andrew Chafin struck out Bobby Witt Jr. and then won a 12-pitch battle with Vinnie Pasquantino to strand the runner and preserve the Angels’ 4-3 lead.
Key Stat:
The Angels improved their all-time record at Kauffman Stadium to 162-144 with the victory.
Up Next:
Thursday’s series finale will feature Angels right-hander Kyle Hendricks (6-9, 4.89 ERA) against Royals lefty Noah Cameron (7-6, 2.92 ERA).
