Angels limit strikeouts in 3-2 win over Royals

Strikeouts have plagued the Angels all season, but it wasn’t a problem Wednesday in a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium.

The Angels (71-87) lead the major leagues in strikeouts (1,590) and struck out 13 times Tuesday in an 8-4 loss. On Wednesday the Angels only struck out six times, which is the fewest amount of strikeouts for the team in a game since September 10 in a 4-3 win over the Twins.

“Any time you can make more contact, you have to put a little bit of pressure on the defense and the pitcher too,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “They did a decent job of stretching out at bats, lengthening pitch counts. It’s nice to see.”

Angels’ starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi was dominant on the mound allowing just one run on one hit in five innings. His night was cut short when he was removed from the game while warming up for the sixth inning due a pain in his finger.

Kikuchi finishes his first season as Angel with a 3.99 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 178.1 innings pitched. The 178.1 innings are a career-high for Kikuchi, who was the Opening Day starter for the Angels this season.

“I’m glad I was able to stay in the rotation the entire year,” Kikuchi said via an interpreter. “I’ve been able to do that the last three seasons. Looking at my numbers, it’s been similar the last three years. I think I had a good year and can take the positives from this year and be even better next year.”

The Angels scored first in the second inning. Luis Rengifo hit a double and subsequently scored on a RBI groundout by Oswald Peraza.

Taylor Ward hit his 36th home run of the season in the third inning and his second in as many days. He ties Jo Adell for the team-lead in home runs and they are the first set of teammates to both hit over 35 home runs in a season since Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in 2015.

In the fourth inning, Peraza scored when Sebastian Rivero hit a chopper to Royals pitcher Steven Kolek who sailed a throw into center field to give the Angels a 3-0 lead.

Former Angel Randal Grichuk ended Kikuchi’s no-hit bid in the fifth inning with a solo home run just over the glove of Bryce Teodosio to cut the Angels’ lead to 3-1.

The Angels had a scoring opportunity in the seventh inning with runners on second and third with two outs, but Jo Adell struck out to end the inning. 

José Fermin, Chase Silseth, Luis Garcia and Kenley Jansen allowed just one run in four innings of relief with one hit allowed.

Jansen, who hadn’t pitched in six days, pitched a clean ninth inning to tally his 28th save of the season. He hasn’t allowed a hit or a run in his last nine appearances dating back to August 22.

The Angels are now 7-15 in September and are 2-10 in their last 12 games. Mitch Farris starts for the Angels in the series finale Thursday against former Angel and Fullerton native Michael Lorenzen for the Royals.