⚾ Pasquantino homers, Witt gets 4 hits as Royals beat Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Vinnie Pasquantino homered and drove in three runs, Bobby Witt Jr. had four hits and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-4 on Thursday night.

Michael Lorenzen (7-11) gave up two earned runs and five hits with a season-high nine strikeouts and no walks in 5 2/3 innings for the Royals.

Jo Adell, Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout each homered for the Angels. Trout’s two-run shot — his 23rd of the season and 401st of his career — cut Kansas City’s lead to 5-4 in eighth.

However, the Royals scored four in the top of the ninth, a rally highlighted by Salvador Perez’s two-out, three-run double off Angels reliever Sam Bachman, to pull away.

Mitch Farris (1-3) gave up four earned runs and five hits in five innings, striking out five and walking two, for the Angels, who have lost 11 of 13 games.

Pasquantino’s team-leading 32nd homer, a two-run shot to right field in the first, gave him a team-high 110 RBIs on the season. Adell pulled the Angels to 2-1 in the second with his team-high 37th homer.

Pasquantino had a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the third and Witt had an RBI double in the fifth to push the lead to 5-1.

Schanuel’s solo shot in the sixth brought the Angels back within two, but Adam Frazier’s pinch-hit RBI single in the eight made it 5-2.

Key moment

Bachman was one strike away from escaping a bases-loaded jam in the ninth, but Perez hit a drive off the base of the center-field wall for his game-breaking hit.

Key stat

The Angels struck out 13 times, bringing their major league-leading total to 1,603 — tied for fourth-most in major league history. With three games left, the Angels are 51 shy of Minnesota’s single-season record of 1,654 strikeouts, set in 2023.