ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Kendrys Morales homered, Lorenzo Cain drove in two runs and the Kansas City Royals remained unbeaten with a 4-2 victory over Los Angeles on Friday night in the Angels’ home opener.

Eric Hosmer drove in an early run and Jason Vargas pitched six solid innings against his former team for the defending AL champion Royals. They followed up their season-opening sweep of the White Sox with a win in the same ballpark where they won the first two games of last October’s AL Division Series.

David Freese homered and Kole Calhoun had an early RBI double for the Angels, who have lost their last three home openers.

Vargas (1-0) yielded five hits and two runs over six innings.

Wade Davis pitched the ninth for his first save.

Hector Santiago (0-1) gave up six hits and three runs while pitching into the sixth.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Edinson Volquez must have gotten tired from all the times he tipped his cap.

He certainly didn’t labor much on the mound.

Volquez dazzled over eight innings in his Royals debut, and Kansas City’s defense made a series of spectacular plays behind him in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday that finish off a season-opening three-game sweep.

“Unbelievable,” said Volquez, who allowed one run on four hits in his first start since signing a $20 million, two-year deal with the Royals in the offseason. “We have the best defense in baseball right now. It gives you a lot of confidence.”

Lorenzo Cain made two dramatic catches while running into the center field wall. Third baseman Mike Moustakas made a diving snare of a hot ground ball. And second baseman Omar Infante snared a line drive before turning an inning-ending double play.

“We got some great defensive plays,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Some great offense, too. Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer, and Cain and Kendrys Morales also drove in runs, helping the AL champions improve to 3-0 for the first time since a season-opening sweep of Detroit in 2008.

Greg Holland worked a perfect ninth for his second save in less than 24 hours.

“That’s what they are known for, playing small ball, bunting guys over, playing great defense,” White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton said. “They play the game hard. They’re stealing bags. Lorenzo Cain making plays. Perez is throwing guys out. They’re a solid team.”

Meanwhile, the Royals pounded Chicago’s John Danks (0-1), who had been 7-0 against them. He allowed all four runs on seven hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings.

“There are things we certainly need to do better,” he said. “That’s just the way it’s going to be. We have too much talent in here to keep playing like this, but we’ll be better.”

The White Sox were swept in an opening series for the first time since 2004, and head into their home opener against Minnesota after losing to the Royals for the 14th time in 17 games.

“There’s no freaking out here,” Eaton said, “just a little frustration right now.”

The Royals took the lead on Cain’s RBI groundout in the first, but it was his two dazzling plays in center that will make highlight reels. First, Cain collided with the wall at full speed to rob Adam LaRoche of a leadoff hit in the second. Then, he backed into the wall to catch a long fly ball by Micah Johnson that ended the third.

Morales added an RBI double off Danks in the sixth inning, and Perez chased the left-hander a couple of batters later when he sent a full-count pitch into the bullpen in left field.

It was the sixth homer of the series for the Royals, who needed 15 games to hit their first six last season. They went on to finish last in the majors in home runs.

“If somebody would say, `Boy, you’re firing on all cylinders,’ I’d have to agree,” Yost said. “To get off to this type of start is exciting and fun, and you just have to ride it as long as you can.”

PAULO’S DEBUT

Royals LF Paul Orlando started in place of Alex Gordon, who got a planned day off. After spending 10 years in the minors, the Brazilian made the most of it. He walked in the third inning and then hit a leadoff triple in the fifth.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

The game was delayed nearly 5 minutes in the first inning when Kauffman Stadium’s phone system went down. With no communication to their replay officials, the managers would have had to challenge plays only on their own observations. Service was restored in the third inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: LHP Chris Sale (broken right foot) is expected to start Sunday against the Twins.

Royals: RHP Luke Hochevar (Tommy John surgery) began a rehab assignment Thursday with Triple-A Omaha at New Orleans. The hard-throwing reliever missed all of last season.

UP NEXT

White Sox: RHP Hector Noesi, claimed by Chicago off waivers last season, will start his club’s home opener Friday afternoon against Minnesota.

Royals: LHP Jason Vargas faces his former team Friday night when Kansas City opens a six-game road trip with the first of three games against the Angels.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lorenzo Cain made the Chicago White Sox pay after being hit by two pitches in the first two games of the series.

Cain, who was hit by a pitch in the first inning, had a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth for his third hit and the Kansas City Royals beat the White Sox 7-5 Wednesday night.

Cain homered off Zach Putnam (0-1), the fourth White Sox pitcher, after Alcides Escobar led off the inning with a single for his third hit.

“You can only hit a guy so many times before trouble develops,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I can’t judge intent on either side, but guys can only stand for a guy getting hitting so much. Two times in two nights is getting to be little too much for Lorenzo.”

Cain had words with White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija, who hit him with a pitch in the fifth inning Monday. So this home run made it even sweeter.

“It’s really nice,” Cain said. “This series has definitely been intense, a battle between us and the White Sox. To hit a home run at that time of the game definitely was a good feeling.”

Wade Davis (1-0) struck out two in a scoreless eighth. Greg Holland, who had 46 saves last year, worked the ninth for his first save. Royals relievers Jason Frasor, Kelvin Herrera, Davis and Holland combined for four scoreless innings, striking out five, after Danny Duffy exited.

Eric Hosmer hit a three-run homer in the third for the Royals. Hosmer homered after Mike Moustakas was hit by a pitch and Cain singled.

“It doesn’t take much to fire us up,” Hosmer said of the White Sox plucking four Royals batters in the first 11 innings of the series.

“We’re a young energetic group. We feed off different stuff like that, whether it’s the crowd or something on the field like that,” he added.

Both teams were issued a warning by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.

Tyler Flowers homered with two outs in the second with Adam LaRoche and Gordon Beckham aboard to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead.

White Sox starter Jose Quintana yielded five runs on nine hits, a walk and two hit batters. Duffy went five-plus innings, permitting five runs on eight hits.

“They have a pretty good lineup,” Quintana said. “They had a lot of contact. It was one pitch, Hosmer’s home run, it changed my game.”

The White Sox have lost 13 of their past 16 games to the Royals and have been outscored 86-43.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: LHP Chris Sale, who broke his right foot in spring training, said he is set to start Sunday against the Twins. “I was hurt. I’m not hurt anymore,” Sale said. “I think it’s time to take blinders off and run the race.” … White Sox RHP Jake Petricka, who is on the disabled list with an upper back strain, threw a bullpen session on the Tuesday off day and could come off the disabled list next week.

Royals: LF Alex Gordon, who has right wrist surgery in December, will likely be rested Thursday. Manager Ned Yost said Gordon experienced wrist soreness in spring training when he played a day game after a night game and “we sat him three days” after that. Yost said rookie OF Paulo Orlando would start in left.

SPEEDY PEREZ

Royals catcher Salvador Perez swiped second base on a delayed steal in the fifth inning. It was his second career stolen base. The other was April 4, 2014, also against the White Sox.

BECKHAM’S MILESTONE

Beckham’s fourth-inning single brought his total bases to 1,000 on 654 hits.

UP NEXT

White Sox: LHP John Danks is 7-0 with a 2.43 ERA in 16 career starts against the Royals. He is 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA in 10 career outings at Kauffman Stadium.

Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez makes his KC debut after signing as a free agent on December 29.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — For one unsettling moment, it appeared opening day had taken a terrible turn for Yordano Ventura and the Kansas City Royals.

Ventura crumpled to the ground in the seventh inning with a cramp in his right thumb, ending a strong outing that helped the AL champion Royals rout the Chicago White Sox 10-1 on Monday.

“I felt the thumb lock up on me,” Ventura said, with teammate Jeremy Guthrie translating. “My first thought, it was something really bad, but I’m really happy that it’s not. I’m not concerned about it at all. It’s just a cramp, though, but it surprised me.”

Alex Rios had a three-run homer among his three hits in his Kansas City debut, and Ventura pitched six-plus solid innings. He went down after throwing a strike to Adam LaRoche and was replaced by Kelvin Herrera.

Ventura will be evaluated later this week, but Royals manager Ned Yost said he does not anticipate the hard-throwing righty missing a start. Just days ago, Ventura agreed to a $23 million, five-year contract.

Rios homered in a five-run seventh with Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon aboard. Gordon stroked a two-run single in the inning.

“I was trying to put a good swing on the ball and when you do that good things happen,” Rios said.

Jose Abreu homered in the seventh for Chicago.

White Sox right-hander Jeff Samardzija, who did not allow a run in 15 innings during a pair of opening-day starts with the Chicago Cubs the past two years, yielded five runs and six hits in six-plus innings. He walked three, hit two batters with pitches and threw a wild pitch.

After an exhilarating postseason run last year that ended with a Game 7 loss to San Francisco in the World Series, the Royals got off to a fast start in 2015.

Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas, their first two hitters, went a combined 4 for 7 with two walks and scored five runs. Moustakas homered the opposite way in the fifth off Samardzija.

“The numbers don’t matter,” Moustakas said. “We just find a way to win and at the end of the day the numbers will be there.”

Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless ninth for the Royals, his first big league appearance since Sept. 28, 2011.

“We had some opportunities early (and) we couldn’t capitalize on any of them,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “You’ve got to get better at that. I’m not going to say that it’s the whole season, but you want to get off to a good start. We didn’t. You just have to come back out on Wednesday and get back after it.”

DROUGHT IS OVER

The Royals won their season opener for the first time in seven years. Their previous opening-day victory was March 31, 2008, at Detroit.

THAT WAS QUICK

White Sox rookie second baseman Micah Johnson singled in the sixth for his first major league hit. Moments later, Ventura picked him off first.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: LHP Chris Sale, who broke his right foot Feb. 27, struck out seven and allowed a run on three hits in seven innings during a minor league game in Arizona. Sale is on target to come off the disabled list Sunday and start against Minnesota.

Royals: Gordon, who was limited to 10 exhibition games and hit just .200 in 35 at-bats following right wrist surgery in December, might be given periodic rests early in the season.

UP NEXT

White Sox: LHP Jose Quintana is 0-6 in 12 career starts against the Royals.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy, who starts Wednesday, has not faced the White Sox since 2011 at Kansas City.

— Associated Press —

Kansas City, MO. (AP) – It has been four long years since the Kansas City Royals opened a season at home.

They’ll certainly enjoy this one.

The American League champions will celebrate last season’s dramatic run to Game 7 of the World Series on Monday before facing the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. It is the first game in a 162-game odyssey that they hope will deliver them right back to the playoffs.

Kansas City snapped a 29-year postseason drought in a big way. After squeaking into the wild-card game, the Royals knocked out Oakland with an epic extra-inning comeback. Then, they swept all the way to the final game of the Fall Classic, where they were finally stopped by Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.

”I just expect for us to go out and compete,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”I think we’re a much more experienced team. It’s a very confident team. These guys know that they can produce under the most intense situations, under the brightest spotlights, and that’s what playoff and World Series experience does for you. I’m excited to get started.”

So are the White Sox, who spent the offseason retooling just about everything in the hopes of catapulting from a fourth-place finish in the AL Central.

They signed right-hander Jeff Samardzija to boost their rotation and left-hander Zach Duke to help out in the ‘pen. They inked first baseman Adam LaRoche to provide some power, Melky Cabrera to solidify the outfield and right-hander David Robertson to close games.

Among many other moves that make the White Sox look nothing like they did six months ago.

”Everyone is settling in guys are getting used to each other on and off the field and I think we’re jelling together as a team,” said center fielder Adam Eaton, one of the notable holdovers. ”Hopefully that translates to wins in April.”

The Royals will send 23-year-old Yordano Ventura to the mound on opening day, and the touted flamethrower is sure to get quite the reception from a sellout crowd.

Sure, fans will remember his masterful performance in Game 6 of the World Series, when he shut down the Giants and kept Kansas City’s postseason hopes alive. But they are also sure to thank him for the long-term deal he signed Saturday, a $23 million, five-year pact that includes two option years and could keep Ventura pitching for the Royals for quite a while.

”For me he’s a complete package, a guy that I think is going to be very, very successful in major league baseball,” Yost said. ”There’s no telling what he’s going to be able to achieve.”

Samardzija will get the opening day nod for the White Sox, in part because ace left-hander Chris Sale is recovering from a fractured bone in his right foot. Samardzija started on opening day for the Cubs the past two seasons, holding Pittsburgh without a run each time.

The Royals will try to change his fortunes with a slightly different lineup than they trotted out a year ago. Designated hitter Billy Butler is gone, replaced by Kendrys Morales. Alex Rios is not in right field, signed to replace Nori Aoki and provided some pop.

Otherwise, the rest of the Royals return largely intact. That means a bunch of guys who put together a dream season a year ago will get to celebrate it in front of their home fans.

Right before they start trying to prove it wasn’t a fluke.

”We’re a real close team. Our team chemistry is off the charts,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said, ”and over the course of a year, 162 games, you really do need that. It’s a group of guys that are used to playing with each other. We feel like that’s an advantage and I think we can use that to help us throughout the season.”

— Associated Press —