Baseball

Angels Send the Royals to 10th Straight Loss and 9th Shutout of the Season

AP
Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani bats during the first inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals on Friday in Kansas City, Mo.

The Associated Press

15:30 JST, June 17, 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brandon Drury drove in two runs, Patrick Sandoval threw seven innings and the Los Angeles Angels handed Kansas City its 10th straight loss, beating the Royals 3-0 on Friday night.

Kansas City, a big league-worst 18-51, is on its longest losing streak since dropping 11 games in a row from May 2-13, 2021. The Royals were held to four hits or fewer for the 15th time and shut out for the ninth.

Los Angeles has won 10 of 12. The Angels took two of three at home from Seattle before winning three of four at AL West-leading Texas.

“It probably wasn’t our best game offensively and we made some mistakes on the bases, but overall I thought Sandy was great,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “Where we came from the last two series, you could have a letdown game. I thought we answered well.”

Sandoval (4-6) didn’t retire the Royals in order until he struck out the side in the seventh. He gave four hits, four walks and hit a batter, and had six strikeouts.

“I could do without the four walks,” Sandoval said. “I was satisfied to go seven, give our bullpen a rest and give us a chance to win.

“

I had to find a way to get outs and get our team back in the dugout.” Sam Bachman retired six straight batters his first professional save. Royals starter Brady Singer (4-6) allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He settled in really well,”” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said about Singer. “”A little unfortunate there in the sixth, kind of broke his rhythm a bit, but overall he threw the ball well. Five and a third, two runs against that lineup is pretty solid.”

”

Shohei Ohtani laced a double down the left-field line in the first and went to third on a wild pitch. After Mike Trout walked, Drury singled to score Ohtani and send Trout to third. The Royals avoided further trouble when Singer struck out Matt Thaiss, and Drury was caught stealing.

Drury extended the lead in the sixth with an RBI double. Trout led off with a single. Drury followed with a line drive down the left-field line. Hunter Renfroe singled, ending Singer’s night.

The Angels added a run in the seventh when Jose Cuas hit his first batter and walked Thaiss with the bases loaded.