Royals 9, Angels 5
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Kansas City Royals scored seven runs in the third inning and cruised to a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.
Lorenzo Cain's bases-clearing three-run double was the big blow, and the Royals left town with a series victory, taking two of three on the first leg of their three-city, nine-game road trip.
The Royals spread the wealth, as every player in the starting lineup reached base in the game, and all but one -- Eric Hosmer -- had at least one hit. Alex Gordon led the way with three hits, Billy Butler had a two-run single and Salvador Perez had two hits and two RBIs.
On the wrong end of most of those hits were Angels' pitchers Barry Enright and reliever Mark Lowe. Enright (0-2) lasted only two-plus innings and gave up four runs. Lowe gave up four runs in just one inning of work.
Benefitting from all the offense was Royals starter Wade Davis (3-2), who gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings to earn the win, but not without a few tense moments. After the Angels knocked Davis out of the game in the sixth, they cut their deficit to 8-4 and had the bases loaded with Albert Pujols at the plate representing the tying run. But Royals reliever Aaron Crow retired Pujols on a grounder to third to end the threat.
Mike Trout went 2-for-3 with a home run (No. 8), two runs scored, two RBIs and two walks for the Angels.
With the win, the Royals (20-17) moved within 1 1/2 games of first-place Detroit in the A.L. Central, while the Angels (15-25) fell a season-worst 11 games behind Texas in the A.L. West. It's their largest deficit 40 games into the season since 2001, when they were 12 games back.
Enright didn't last long, getting knocked out of the game after the Royals loaded the bases to begin the third inning. Lowe replaced Enright, and by the time the inning was finished, the Royals had scored seven runs, three charged to Enright.
The big hits of the inning were Butler's two-run single and a three-run double by Cain.
The Angels scored their first run of the game against Davis in the bottom of the third. Trout doubled, and he scored on a single by Pujols, cutting the Royals lead to 8-1.
The Angels added a run in the fourth on Chris Iannetta's RBI single, but still trailed 8-2 through five innings.
NOTES: Angels RHP Ryan Madson will report to Class AAA Salt Lake Thursday to begin a rehab assignment. Madson said he feels he's ready to face major league hitters now, but manager Mike Scioscia said Madson needed a little extra time to "fine tune" some things. Madson's rehab assignment could last a week or two. ... Angels RHP Jered Weaver, who is recovering from a broken bone in his left (non-throwing) elbow, came out of Wednesday's 62-pitch bullpen session feeling fine. He is scheduled to throw another bullpen session on Friday, then begin a rehab assignment next week. ... Royals 3B Mike Moustakas went 0-for-9 in the first two games of the series with the Angels, and was 0-for-18 overall heading into Wednesday's game, going back to hitting a home run last Friday against the Yankees. But Wednesday, he doubled in his first at-bat to snap the hitless streak. ... RHP Greg Holland is averaging 14.54 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, ranking sixth in the majors among pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched. Holland has converted seven of his nine save opportunities.
