Andrew Benintendi homered early, Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier homered late, and the Kansas City Royals earned a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Benintendi’s home run came on Angels starter Noah Syndergaard’s fourth pitch of the game, a two-run blast that gave the Royals a first-inning lead. Perez’s two-run homer came with one out in the eighth inning on Syndergaard’s 91st and final pitch of the game.
Dozier homered later in the eighth off Angels reliever Jaime Barria. Benintendi, Perez, Dozier, Michael A. Taylor and Nicky Lopez each had two hits for Kansas City.
Syndergaard (4-6) was effective in the middle innings, allowing just one run between the first and eighth innings. In all, he gave up five runs on eight hits and two walks in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out five.
Royals starter Kris Bubic (1-4) got his first victory of the season in his 10th appearance and ninth start. He allowed two runs on six hits and two walks in six innings, striking out seven and making 95 pitches.
By claiming the opener of a three-game series, Kansas City won for the fourth time in five games. Los Angeles had just won four times in a five-game series at Seattle.
Whit Merrifield led off the game with a single before Benintendi followed with a first-pitch home run, his third long ball of the season, for a 2-0 Kansas City advantage.
Syndergaard, though, settled in from there. He didn’t allow another Royals hitter to reach base until he faced Benintendi again, walking him with two out in the third.
The Royals had runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth inning, but Syndergaard got some help escaping the jam thanks to catcher Kurt Suzuki throwing out Dozier on a stolen-base attempt.
That allowed the Angels offense to rally against Bubic. Taylor Ward hit a solo shot in the third inning, his 11th homer of the season but his first since May 29, to make it 2-1. In the fifth, Andrew Velazquez led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a single by Ward to tie the game at 2-2.
The contest remained tied until the seventh, when Dozier led off with a single and stole second base. Syndergaard struck out the next two hitters, but Lopez doubled to drive home Dozier and give Kansas City a 3-2 lead.
Royals reliever Josh Staumont stranded two runners in the ninth inning in a non-save situation.
–Field Level Media
