KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Angels flirted with a series sweep to cap their 10-game road trip, but they were denied by a clutch swing from an All-Star.
Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-out solo home run in the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals rallied to beat the Angels, 4-3, on Thursday night.
The Royals hit four solo homers in a game in which all seven runs came via home runs.
Lucas Erceg (7-4) struck out two in one inning and Carlos Estévez picked up his major league-best 37th save.
Angels starter Kyle Hendricks allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, while Kansas City starter Noah Cameron allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.
The Angels got on the scoreboard in the first inning on a three-run homer by Luis Rengifo. With two outs, Taylor Ward singled, Jo Adell walked and Rengifo hit a slider 384 feet down the left-field line.
The Royals answered in the second on Adam Frazier’s home run, the 1,000th hit of his MLB career. Vinnie Pasquantino connected on his 29th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning to trim the deficit to 3-2.
The Royals tied it when Salvador Perez hit his 24th home run of the season, leading off the seventh inning.
Erceg retired the Angels in order in the eighth to set the stage for Witt’s go-ahead blast off of Ryan Zeferjahn (6-5) in the bottom of the inning.
UP NEXT
Athletics (RHP Mason Barnett, 0-1, 11.25 ERA) at Angels (RHP José Soriano, 10-9, 3.68 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM