Today the Royals took on the Angels in the final game of a three game series looking to come away with a series win. After a disappointing loss last night, the Royals sent Michael Lorenzen to the mound to take the series before heading to play the Athletics in the last series of the year. After an offense filled last few innings, the Royals came away with a big 9-4 win and took the series behind another big game from Bobby Witt Jr.
The game started with a bang as Mitch Farris struggled to command his pitches in the first inning. A leadoff walk to Maikel Garcia put a runner on first base with no outs to start the game. After a pop-out by Bobby Witt Jr, Vinnie Pasquantino came to the plate and took a low slider deep to right field to put the Royals up 2-0 in the top of the first. Michael Lorenzen then came out and struck out the side (all looking), and the Royals were off to a hot start.
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Unfortunately for Kansas City, the Angels were able to return the favor with a solo home run to start the bottom of the second inning, cutting the lead in half. They were later able to get runners on the corners, but Michael Lorenzen was able to work around it and keep the Royals up 2-1 going into the third.
The Royals were able to get their two-run lead right back in the third after singles by Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr gave them runners on the corners. Vinnie Pasquantino once again came up for the Royals, but a ground ball to second appeared to be a double play… But after review, Vinnie beat it out and put the Royals up 3-1. They were able to tack on another one after Bobby Witt Jr’s double drove in Michael Massey from second to put the Royals up 4-1 in the fifth inning.
The Angels came up down three, and Michael Lorenzen came back out for the sixth inning. Nolan Schanuel came to the plate and took a middle cutter 404 feet and made the game 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Lorenzen got the next two outs, but after a single by Jo Adell, he was pulled in favor of John Schreiber, who got out of the inning.
In the eighth, things got interesting after the Royals loaded the bases and scored a run on an infield hit by Adam Frazier. Steven Cruz came in for the Royals in the bottom of the eighth, but a single by Luis Rengifo was followed by a homer from Mike Trout that got the Angels within one. The ninth inning became pivitol for the Royals to give themselves some cushion for the bottom of the ninth.
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The Royals broke the game open in the ninth after Michael Massey singled with one out, Bobby Witt Jr singled with two outs and a walk from Vinnie Pasquantino loaded the bases. Salvador Perez came through once again for the Royals and a big double to put the Royals up 8-4 and then Mike Yastzremski put a single into the outfield to stretch the lead to 9-4. Luinder Avila locked things down for the ninth and the Royals came away with a 9-4 win.