Will Smith pitched two-hit ball over seven innings in the longest of his five major league starts, Lorenzo Cain hit a two-run homer in the first, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Smith (2-3) allowed a run, struck out four and walked four against the club that drafted him in 2007 and traded him to Kansas City in 2010. The only hits against the 23-year-old left-hander came in the first inning — a line-drive single through the box by Torii Hunter and an RBI single by Mark Trumbo that followed a walk to Albert Pujols.

Jonathan Broxton allowed two singles during a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save in 27 chances.

Garrett Richards (3-2) gave up four runs, five hits and three walks in five innings. The 24-year-old right-hander is trying to secure the fifth spot in the Angels’ rotation.

— Associated Press —

Kendrys Morales has started 63 games for the Los Angeles Angels as their designated hitter and another six at first base. This time, manager Mike Scioscia needed him off the bench and he delivered.

Pinch-hitting with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Morales came through with a rare three-run single to help the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Monday night.

”I’m usually ready to go in by the seventh inning,” Morales said through a translator. ”The pitch was up, and I took advantage of it.”

Alberto Callaspo, who spent two-plus seasons with the Royals, started the tiebreaking rally with a two-out single against reliever Greg Holland (4-3). Maicer Izturis bounced a double over the head of first baseman Eric Hosmer and down the line.

Third base coach Dino Ebel, respecting the strong arm of right fielder Jeff Francoeur, held Callaspo at third. Peter Bourjos, batting .223, drew a walk and zipped around the bases when Morales drove a 1-1 pitch to right-center while batting for Bobby Wilson.

”Kansas City has some power arms out of the ‘pen, and we were fortunate to get some things going – especially with two outs,” Scioscia said. ”I think there’s still some upside to Kendrys. I think he’s getting comfortable. He’s been through a stretch this month where he’s just lost his comfort zone in the box and was chasing a lot of pitches. Hopefully this can start to get him back to where he is. We need him swinging the bat.”

Royals manager Ned Yost was more upset about the walk to Bourjos than the hit by Morales.

”Greg got two outs, then came the hit by Callaspo and the bouncer over Eric,” Yost said. ”Then he walked Bourjos on four pitches, and that was the game. Greg got a fastball up to Morales and he hit a laser beam, but the walk to Bourjos is what killed him, because we knew they would send up Morales to hit. We’re giving up walks in crucial situations, and we’ve got to find ways to eliminate that.”

Kevin Jepsen (1-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings of two-hit relief after taking over for starter C.J. Wilson. Scott Downs worked a perfect ninth for his ninth save in 11 chances.

Angels rookie Mike Trout extended his franchise-record streak to 15 consecutive games with a run scored, three shy of the AL mark set by Red Rolfe of the Yankees in 1939 and equaled by Kenny Lofton of the Indians in 2000. The 20-year-old phenom is the first player to score a run in 15 straight games since Matt Holliday did it with Colorado in 2008.

Royals lefty Bruce Chen gave up three runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings. Izturis chased the 14-year veteran in the sixth when he punched an opposite-field RBI single to right field to give the Angels a 3-2 lead after Howie Kendrick drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a groundout and stole third.

Royals No. 9 hitter Brayan Pena got Chen off the hook in the seventh with an RBI single.

Wilson allowed three runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings and struck out six. The left-hander was one of four players who represented the Angels at the All-Star game a couple of weeks ago in Kansas City, but wasn’t able to pitch because of a blister on his middle finger.

”They had a couple hits that fell in, and it took a lot of pitches to get through the early part of the game. But after that, he settled down,” Scioscia said. ”He really had much better command as the game went on.”

Wilson finished July 0-2 with a 4.55 ERA in five starts – the first time he has gone winless in a calendar month since becoming a full-time starter in 2010 with Texas.

”You go through streaks where you get lucky and streaks where you get unlucky. You just have to look at the performance you do for yourself,” Wilson said. ”Tonight, I gave up three runs. I’m upset about that.”

The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the third with Alex Gordon’s RBI single and a long sacrifice fly from Lorenzo Cain, robbed of a home run by Bourjos on a towering drive to left-center.

”It wasn’t a great play, but it was a good play,” Yost said. ”Their outfielders are so fast, so they can play deep.”

The Angels tied it in the bottom half. Albert Pujols delivered the first run with a groundout after a leadoff single by Trout and a double by Torii Hunter. One out later, Kendrick doubled home Hunter.

Chen is 0-2 with a 9.25 ERA in his last five starts, after going 7-2 over his previous 10 outings. He pitched six scoreless innings against the Angels on opening day and ended up with a no-decision.

— Associated Press —

Ryan Doumit put his name in the Twins’ record book Sunday, accomplishing something no Minnesota player had done in 20 years.

Doumit homered from both sides of the plate and drove in four runs to lead the Twins to a 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Doumit became the third Twins player to go deep from both sides in a game. The others were Chili Davis (1992) and Roy Smalley (1986).

”That’s great company,” Doumit said.

And the home runs were no-doubters.

”I had a pretty good idea” that both were out, Doumit said.

Doumit homered to lead off the second inning swinging left-handed. He opened the sixth with his ninth home run, batting right-handed against reliever Tim Collins. It was Doumit’s sixth career multihomer game, the second this season.

Hitting .354 in his past 26 games, Doumit also had a two-run single with two outs in a four-run third to match his career high for RBIs.

”Home runs are always great, but with the bases loaded, him driving it the other way was huge,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. ”I thought that was an impressive at-bat. It was a fastball away and he stayed on it and didn’t try to do too much with it and shot it the other way. That was a big hit for us. It was a big day for him and for us.”

The Twins signed Doumit to a $3 million, one-year contract as a free agent in the offseason.

”We’re really happy we got a chance to get this guy,” Gardenhire said. ”It’s paying dividends for us. He’s a force in the middle of our lineup. He can do a lot of things – outfield, catch, DH, first base a little. And he can swing the bat.

”I knew we had to get him in there today some way or another. We were looking at lot of different routes. I wanted to keep Doumit’s bat in there and it worked out pretty good.”

Samuel Deduno (1-0), who made six relief appearances the past two years with San Diego and Colorado, picked up his first big league victory. He limited the Royals to one run and six singles over 6 1-3 innings.

Lorenzo Cain’s sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Mike Moustakas with the only run off Deduno, who was making his third major league start.

”His ball-to-strike ratio was a lot better,” Gardenhire said. ”He threw the ball over a lot more. He was very effective and got us deep into the game.”

Doumit’s big day spoiled the Royals debut of right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, acquired Friday in a trade with the Rockies for Jonathan Sanchez. Guthrie (3-10) yielded four runs on five hits and three walks in five innings.

”I thought he threw the ball OK,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He had a rough third inning, but I didn’t think he made a horrible pitch. He kept the ball down in the zone and I don’t think he elevated all day. He made good pitches and I thought they hit good pitches. I was impressed.”

Guthrie, who led the National League in home runs allowed with 21, hung a breaking ball on a 1-1 count to Doumit, who hit it out to right.

The Twins bunched three hits and two walks off Guthrie in a four-run third. Jamey Carroll led off the inning with a single and, with one out, Ben Revere and Joe Mauer walked.

It appeared Guthrie might escape unscathed after Josh Willingham’s infield popup for the second out, but Doumit delivered a two-run single. Brian Dozier doubled off the left-field wall to drive in two more runs.

Kansas City’s rotation had a 7.38 ERA during a 3-7 homestand. The Royals have lost 15 of 20 and are only a half-game in front of the Twins for last place in the AL Central.

Billy Butler homered, his 19th, with Moustakas aboard in the eighth against Twins reliever Anthony Swarzak. Pinch-hitter Yuniesky Betancourt also connected in the Royals’ two-run ninth.

”As always with Kansas City, it comes down to one or two runs,” Gardenhire said. ”You never feel like they’re out of the game. We’ve had so many of these games. It got close at the end.”

— Associated Press —

Lorenzo Cain is showing the Kansas City Royals what they missed the first half of the season.

Cain drove in three runs, Alex Gordon had three hits and scored twice, and the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 7-3 on Saturday night.

Cain delivered run-producing singles in the first and fifth innings and he had an RBI double in the seventh. Cain’s three RBIs matched a career high, accomplished twice in 2010 when he was with Milwaukee.

Cain played in only five games in April because of a torn hip flexor and groin strain.

”That’s one of the main reasons we made the Melky Cabrera trade (to San Francisco) because we felt like Cain was ready to contribute,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He is showing now exactly what we were thinking he would be capable of doing if he was healthy all year long. It’s a nice shot in the arm to have him in the lineup.

”He pacing himself when he needs to and is turning it on when he needs to, but he’s really swinging the bat pretty darn good,” Yost added. ”Honestly, he’s about 85 percent.”

Cain, who batted cleanup, is 13 for 31 since being returning July 13.

Gordon had his 34th multihit game and is hitting .352 since moving back to the Royals leadoff spot on May 27.

Luis Mendoza (4-6) made his sixth quality start in seven appearances to collect the victory, but only his second since May 13. He yielded three runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings.

”He pitched into the seventh inning, did a great job again, executed his pitches,” Yost said. ”He battled a little bit up in the zone, but was always able to make the adjustment.”

The Royals scored only one run in three of Mendoza’s previous four starts, but this time they backed him with seven.

”I started up in the zone a little bit,” Mendoza said. ”I just tried to get some groundballs, get below. My job is to get groundballs. I just want to pitch my game, stay aggressive and try to win games.”

Twins rookie left-hander Scott Diamond (8-4) lost for the first time since June 19, spanning five starts. Diamond allowed four runs and 10 hits in six innings.

”They made contact and did a good job of putting the ball in play and found holes,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. ”I didn’t think he pitched bad at all. They hit a lot of choppers and were making contact.”

The Royals led off the first five innings with singles. They also hit into five double plays, four in the first five innings.

Gordon started the first inning with a single and scored on Cain’s two-out single.

Mike Moustakas opened the second with a single to center, went to second on Eric Hosmer’s single and scored on Yuniesky Betancourt’s two-out single.

Jeff Francoeur and Betancourt doubled for the first Kansas City run in the eighth. Gordon singled home Betancourt for other run in the inning.

Aaron Crow worked two spotless innings to log his second save.

The Twins made it 2-all in the fourth. Ben Revere started with a triple to the right-field corner and scored on Joe Mauer’s groundout. Josh Willingham, who singled, scored the other run of the inning on Chris Parmelee’s fielder’s choice.

The Royals took a 4-2 lead in the fifth when they were aided by an error by Parmelee at first base. Cain singled Gordon home with the first run of the inning. When Parmelee failed to handle Moustakas’ hard bouncer, Alcides Escobar scored.

The Twins got a run back in the seventh when Jamey Carroll’s double scored Parmelee.

— Associated Press —