Royals keep rolling, down Angels 6-4 in Anaheim

The Kansas City Royals overcame the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to win 6-4 on Saturday night.

Through the first three innings, it looked like a game of yesteryear, as Jeremy Guthrie gave up a home run to the first batter he faced. That, coupled with the Royals seeming inability to make contact against Jered Weaver's junkballing ways (the first four outs of the game were all strikeouts), portends of a long night were spectered in the air.

Then, in the fourth inning, it is as though the Royals remembered that straight, 84mph fastballs are nothing to be feared, and we must not give in to omens. Fate is what we make, and the Royals decided to give serious considerations to the idea that Jered Weaver just might not have it anymore. They batted around in the inning, hitting two home runs (Moose dong and Perez dong) and scoring five runs to take a 5-1 lead.

Mike Scioscia decided to let Weaver back out for the fifth, where he promptly gave up another base runner and yielded another run. His ERA on the year is 8.71.

Guthrie did what Guthrie does, dancing around base runners and relying on his defense to turn balls in play into outs. It went well until the fifth, when the Angels decided to make things interesting by putting up three runs and cutting the lead to 6-4.

Ned decided to go SoCal Scioscia and bring Guthrie back out for the sixth, despite giving up three runs the previous frame, considering he had only thrown 67 pitches. It worked out, as Guts retired the side on nine pitches. It worked so well in fact that Yost let Guthrie pitch the seventh, which he navigated with aplomb.

Wade Davis came on for the eighth, and set the side down in order.

So, here's a thing:  the Royals have been hit by pitches a lot. They were hit twice against the Angels tonight, and have been hit a total of nine times this season. They are two in front of the Rangers and far afield of the average (2.13)

The Royals go for their second consecutive sweep tomorrow afternoon, as Yordano Ventura is set to square off against C.J. Wilson.

The Good: The offense continues to show up. Moustakas went 2-for-4 with a walk and a home run, Kendrys Morales was on base four times, Perez went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, and every player had a hit except for Alex Gordon.

The defense also played another big part in this game. Gordon made a diving catch coming straight in on a ball, and Alcides Escobar had a Herculean pick on a bad hop ground ball off of the bat of Mike Trout.

The Bad: Alex Gordon's wrist and general slow-start offense is still struggling, as he is 1-for-13 to start the year. He has reached base six times though, as he has drawn two walks and been hit by a pitch three times.

The Ugly: Eric Hosmer was thrown out at third following a cutesy double-steal attempt of second and home that the Royals have seemingly been attempting all season. Lorenzo Cain was also thrown out, and Mike Moustakas got a lucky safe call that was upheld on review.