Jo Adell drove in all four runs for the Los Angeles Angels and the Kansas City Royals couldn’t find enough offense of their own in a 4-3 loss at Kauffman Stadium tonight.
For the first 45 minutes of the game, neither team could generate much offense. There were a few baserunners, but not much else happened aside from Maikel Garcia stepping on Oswald Peraza’s hand and kneeing him on the face in the same play. It was unintentional and Peraza remained in the game. In the bottom of the third, Kansas City had their first big scoring opportunity when Michael Massey led off the inning with a bloop single and Jac Caglianone walked on four pitches. That brought up Kyle Isbel. The nine-hole hitter put down a sacrifice bunt and it was a good one, forcing Peraza to come crashing down the first base line to field it. He got to it and fired to first, but the throw hit Isbel in the head and bounced up the right field line. That allowed Caglianone to reach third and Massey to come home with the game’s first run. Caglianone would score moments later on a flyball off the bat of Mike Yastrzemski. The next two batters would be retired to end the inning, but the Royals led 2-0.
That unusual sequence of events aside, pitching dominated the first five innings of the game. The Royals were getting into many early count outs against Caden Dana. Meanwhile, the Angels couldn’t figure out Ryan Bergert. He was consistently ahead in the count and they were unable to square him up, only recording two hard hit balls. Leading off the sixth, Bergert walked Zach Neto on five pitches. That was enough for Matt Quatraro, who pulled his pitcher before he could face another batter for a third time. In came John Schreiber to face Yoán Moncada. Moncada ripped a ball to third that Garcia nearly made a gold glove play on, but Moncada just beat the throw, giving the Angels two baserunners with nobody out. Schreiber put away Taylor Ward with a strikeout. He was unable to do the same to Jo Adell. Schreiber threw a fastball that caught way too much of the plate and Adell crushed it to center for a go-ahead three-run homer.
Though Caden Dana had only thrown 70 pitches, his day was also done after five innings. This would be a battle of the bullpens the rest of the way with the Angels ahead 3-2. In the seventh, the captain tried to jumpstart the offense. With one out, Salvador Perez roped one off Robert Stephenson down the left field line. Chris Taylor played it well and got the throw into second quickly. The throw was good and arrived at the bag well ahead of Perez. Sliding headfirst, Perez reached out for the bag with his left hand and deftly evaded the tag from Luis Rengifo with a swim move on the right side. He was called safe — the Angels challenged, but the call was confirmed upon review. Perez was subsequently lifted for Tyler Tolbert. That brought up Adam Frazier. He fell behind 0-2 but got a good fastball to hit and ripped it down the right field line. Frazier and Tolbert swapped places and the game was tied at three. Massey, 2-2 on the evening, stepped up with the go-ahead run in scoring position. He bounced out 4-3, pushing Frazier to third. It was up to Caglianone now. He torched a ball, but right at Adell to end the inning.
The game did not remain tied for long. With Lucas Erceg pitching and one out in the eighth, Moncada lined one deep to right that was just out of Yastrzemski’s reach, bouncing off the wall for a double. He then moved to third on a flyout. That brought up Adell. Erceg got the outcome he wanted when Adell bounced a ball towards short. But Bobby Witt Jr. booted it — Adell was safe at first and Moncada came home with the go-ahead run. It was scored as a hit because scorers hate to call errors in 2025. Erceg then walked Rengifo and advanced Adell on a wild pitch while he was at it.
Leading off the bottom of the eighth, Isbel battled Angels lefty Andrew Chafin for eight pitches before drawing a walk. That turned over the lineup with the tying run on base. Randal Grichuk swung at the first pitch and flew out. Witt struck out on four pitches. Vinnie Pasquantino battled even longer than Isbel did, fouling off six straight pitches. On the 12th pitch of the at-bat, he chased a breaker in the dirt and struck out. Inning over. The Royals would get their last chance against Reid Detmers in the bottom of the ninth. He retired the side in order to end the game at 4-3.
The loss drops the Royals 70-69. They are 2.5 games out of a wild card spot with their postseason hopes on life support. They will look to avoid the sweep against the Angels tomorrow afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
Ryan Bergert: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
Caden Dana: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
Jo Adell: 2-4, HR, R, RBI
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