KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Zack Greinke combined with four Royals relievers to hold the scuffling Angels to five hits, Michael A. Taylor drove in three runs, and Kansas City broke open a close game late for a 7-0 win over Los Angeles on Monday night.
Emmanuel Rivera drove in a run during a four-run seventh, and MJ Melendez added a two-run homer in the eighth, helping to position the Royals for another shot at their first four-game win streak this season on Tuesday night.
Greinke scattered three hits over five innings before giving the ball to Amir Garrett (2-1), who worked around a leadoff double in the sixth. Jose Cuas handled the seventh, Scott Barlow the eighth and Josh Staumont finished off the ninth.
The Angels' Noah Syndergaard (5-8) went 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
Greinke was efficient in navigating an error by Whit Merrifield in the first, working around Shohei Ohtani's double in the third and picking off Luis Rengifo for the final out of the fourth. Along the way, Greinke punched out Andrew Velazquez for his 2,856th strikeout, moving him past Jim Bunning and into the top 20 on the career list.
Ohtani's double came moments after he fouled a pitch off his leg and needed several minutes to walk it off.
Syndergaard also dodged trouble through five innings, leaving runners in scoring position in four of them. But the Royals finally caught up to him in the sixth, when Taylor delivered a two-out single to break up a scoreless game.
The Royals added four more runs off Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera, thanks in part to an error and two wild pitches, before Melendez went deep off Austin Warren to put the game out of reach.
OVERTURNED AT THIRD (TWICE)
The Royals' Nicky Lopez thought he had a leadoff triple in the fifth when Jo Adell failed to catch his fly ball to left field, but the call was overturned upon review and ruled a foul ball. Then in the sixth, the Angels' Jared Walsh tried to reach third on a fielders' choice and was initially ruled safe before a review once again overturned the call.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Angels: CF Mike Trout (rib inflammation), who was eligible to come off the injured list Monday, remained there after his cortisone shot in his back last week. “Progressing like we think. Basically, it’s a lot of rest right now as we manage our way through his IL days,” interim manager Phil Nevin said. “It’s more of a day-to-day thing.”
Royals: C Salvador Perez (thumb surgery) will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday. “He's been going about it pretty hard here for a while,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Watching everything he's doing, he feels right.” ... INF Bobby Witt Jr. was out of the lineup Monday after tweaking his hamstring over the weekend.
UP NEXT Angles LHP Jose Suarez (1-4, 5.60) ERA) gets the start Tuesday night while the Royals plan to bring back LHP Angel Zerpa (2-0, 1.29) from Double-A Northwest Arkansas to take the mound.
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