Los Angeles Angels at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Los Angeles Angels

54-73, 27-33 Away

Final
0 - 3

Kansas City Royals

71-56, 40-26 Home

Michael Lorenzen's strong start leads Royals over Angels 3-0

The Royals spoiled Johnny Cueto (0-1), a 17-year veteran who helped Kansas City win the 2015 World Series.

Cueto hadn’t pitched in the majors since Sept. 27 last year with the Marlins. He signed a minor league contract with the Angels in July, and was called up from Triple-A Salt Lake earlier Wednesday. He allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings and left the mound to an ovation from the Kansas City crowd.

Lorenzen (7-6) allowed four hits, two walks, a hit batter and struck out five. He only allowed two runners to reach scoring position. Three of the four hits he allowed came in the first three innings.

“I wasn’t very happy with the first three innings. I was kind of spraying the ball all over the place, getting frustrated with myself,” Lorenzen said. “I guess I was able to make that adjustment and my pitch quality got a lot better.”

Lorenzen gave up a hit to Taylor Ward to lead off the game but got Zach Neto to ground into a double play.

“The double play the second hitter of the game, that was a big relief,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It was more of a mentality of let’s just attack here and not work the edges as much. He was on the attack more so after the first couple innings.”

John Schreiber pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Lucas Erceg worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his sixth save and fourth with the Royals.

The Royals (71-56) remained tied with the Minnesota Twins for the second wild-card spot and moved to within 2.5 games of AL Central-leading Cleveland with their first home series win in a month.

The Royals put together a two-out rally in the second to grab a 2-0 lead. Hunter Renfroe and Adam Frazier singled, Maikel Garcia walked and Kyle Isbel hit a two-run double to the right-center gap.

“It was a five-pitch first and I think he had 12 pitches total in the second before we put those two runs up,” Quatraro said of Cueto. “He got a ton of ground balls. He was working the edges, he’s got the sinker. ... He elevated it too, so he pitched well.”

Melendez hit a two-out solo home run off the right-field foul pole in the sixth for a 3-0 lead.

“Obviously he’s got good stuff and he knows how to pitch,” Melendez said of facing Cueto. “He is able to disrupt your timing. He definitely knows what he’s doing up there. ... You just have to stay locked in and stay within yourself and not try to do too much against him.”

Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in the second inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. That’s Witt’s fifth hitting streak of 10 or more games this season.

ROSTER MOVES

The Angels optioned RHP Hans Crouse to Triple-A Salt Lake City to make room for Cueto. They also released RHP Jose Cisneros to add Cueto to the 40-man roster.

The Angels have not announced a starter for the series opener at Toronto Thursday. ... Michael Wacha (10-6, 3.33 ERA) will start for the Royals at home against Philadelphia on Friday.

How can I watch Los Angeles Angels vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Angels at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Matchup Prediction

Royals: 71.1%

Angels: 28.9%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Adell lined out to center.
	9th Inning	Kavadas struck out looking.
	9th Inning	O'Hoppe struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Erceg relieved Schreiber
	8th Inning	Renfroe struck out swinging.
	8th Inning	Melendez struck out swinging.

Statistics

LAA		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
10	Ground Balls	14
8	Strikeouts	4
0	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
4	Hits	8
0	Stolen Bases	1
3	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
0	Runs	3
1	Ground Into Double Play	2
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
30	At Bats	30
0	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
14	Runners Left On Base	9
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	1
0	Doubles	3
12	Fly Balls	12
0	Caught Stealing	0
129	Pitches	105
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
4	Total Bases	14
34	Plate Appearances	33
0.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
0	Extra Base Hits	4
0.3	Runs Created	4.2
.133	Batting Average	.267
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.133	Slugging Percentage	.467
.100	Secondary Average	.333
.235	On Base Percentage	.333
.369	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.800
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
0.3	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.8
4.0	Batter Rating	30.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	30.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.79	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.18
.000	Isolated Power	.200
0.38	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.75
.088	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.091
-.033	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.067
0.0	Runs Produced	6.0
0.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.2	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
59.5	MLB Rating	81.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0