By MATT PIKE
Vinnie Pasquantino homered and drove in three runs, Bobby Witt Jr. had four hits and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-4 on Thursday night at Angels Stadium to move Kansas City one game back above .500 in the quest for another winning season.
Pasquantino’s team-leading 32nd homer, a two-run shot to right field in the first, gave him a team-high 110 RBI on the season. Jo Adell cut the lead in half, pulling the Angels to 2-1 in the second with his team-high 37th homer.
Pasquantino added a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the third inning, driving in Maikel Garcia. Then in the fifth inning, Witt Jr. had an RBI double that scored Michael Massey to push the Kansas City lead to 4-1. In the sixth inning the Angels cut the lead in half again on a solo home run by Nolan Schanuel.
After Schanuel’s solo shot brought the Angels back within two, Adam Frazier’s pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning drove in Witt. Jr. to make the score 5-2. Los Angles though cut the lead to one run in the bottom half of the eighth on their third home run of the game, a two run shot from Mike Trout his 23rd of the season and 401st of his career that brought home Luis Rengifo.
However, the Royals scored four in the top of the ninth, a rally highlighted by Salvador Perez’s two-out, three-run double off Angels reliever Sam Bachman, that scored Pasquantino, Tyler Tolbert, and Witt Jr to pull away in the inning. Kansas City added a final run with Perez scoring on a single by Mike Yastrzemski.
Michael Lorenzen earned the win, improving to 7-11, giving up two earned runs and five hits with a season-high nine strikeouts and no walks in 5 2/3 innings for the Royals. At the plate, Witt Jr was 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Pasquantino was 1-for-4 with a walk and the home run, driving in three runs.
Kansas City begins their final weekend series of the season next against the Athletics. Noah Cameron (9-7, 2.90 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Luis Morales (4-2, 3.07) for the Athletics on Friday. First pitch is at 9:05pm, pregame airing at 8:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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