Taylor Ward hit a home run and Yusei Kikuchi allowed one hit over five innings to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
It was Ward’s third homer in the last four games. Christian Moore added two hits for Los Angeles (71-87), which won for just the second time in 12 games.
Kikuchi (7-11) picked up his first win since Aug. 9, allowing one run over five innings. He retired the first 10 batters he faced, but left after throwing a warm-up pitch before the top of the sixth inning that caused him to begin shaking his left hand. He walked one and struck out six and finished the season with a 3.99 ERA in 33 starts.
Kenley Jansen struck out two during a 1-2-3 ninth for his 28th save and the 475th of his career.
Randal Grichuk hit a home run for Kansas City (79-79), which finished with just two hits. Stephen Kolek (5-7) suffered the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Luis Rengifo doubled down the right field line, advanced to third on a bloop single by Moore and scored on a groundout by Oswald Peraza.
The Angels extended the lead to 2-0 in the third inning on Ward’s 36th home run, a 420-foot drive to left-center.
Los Angeles made it 3-0 in the fourth, taking advantage of one of Kansas City’s three errors in the game in the process. Peraza singled and stole second and then scored when Kolek fielded Sebastian Romero’s comebacker and, trying to get Peraza in a rundown between second and third, threw wildly into center field, allowing Peraza to score.
Kansas City cut the lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Grichuk led off with his ninth homer, a 400-foot drive that just cleared the glove of leaping center fielder Bryce Teodosio.
The Royals closed to 3-2 in the seventh when Mike Yastrzemski was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a ground out and scored on a pinch-hit single by Carter Jensen.
