It’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters. That’s what Royals manager Buddy Bell should be preaching to his team over and over until it finally sinks in. It might not help them for the whole season, but it might help in their current four game series with the Angels. Kansas City lost the first game of the series 4-3.
The Royals offense couldn’t muster up much of anything in the beginning of the game. Angel’s starter Ervin Santana had a two-hit shut out going into the seventh inning before the visitors finally figured him out.
Matt Stairs hit a two-run homer in the seventh to cut the Angels lead to 4-2. Shane Costa followed Stairs blast with a double to right field. Costa eventually moved to third on Mark Teahen’s groundout and scored on Angel Berroa’s RBI single that ended Santana’s night.
Scot Shields relieved Santana and stopped the bleeding for the Angels. He finished the seventh and the eighth allowing no runs, no hits, and striking out two. Francisco Rodriguez struck out the side in the ninth to get the save.
Santana (6-3) got the win allowing three runs on six hits in 6.2 innings of work.
The Angels weren’t exactly an offensive machine either, but they did score enough runs early to hold on for the victory.
Dallas McPherson had three hits and two RBIs in the game. His single in the first inning scored Garrett Anderson for the first run of the game.
Anderson later drove in a run of his own with a sacrifice fly to drive in Chone Figgins in the third.
The Angels took a 4-0 lead with two runs in the fourth. McPherson struck again with an RBI double to right. Orlando Cabrera went 3-for-4 and drove in McPherson to cap the inning.
Starter Bobby Keppel remains winless after two starts in the majors. The rookie surrendered four runs on eight hits in just 5.1 innings.
The Angels have had no problems beating up on the Royals. Monday’s win was Los Angeles of Anaheim’s seventh straight win over the Royals and the 15th of the last 17.