The Los Angeles bullpen had no room for error the final 3 1-3 innings Sunday. The Angels also have no margin for error in the final 15 games of the season if they hope to make the playoffs.

Mark Trumbo hit a three-run homer and Dan Haren pitched effectively into the sixth inning as the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Sunday.

After Haren departed, the Royals managed just one hit off Angels relievers Nick Maronde, Garrett Richards, Scott Downs, Jordan Walden and Kevin Jespen.

”Our bullpen came in and just got out after out in a game where they’ve got some guys that can drive the ball on their side where one mistake can tie the game,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ”These guys are pitching with their backs against the wall and did a great job.”

The Angels are third in the AL wild-card standings, where the top two qualify – two games behind Oakland and Baltimore.

”We’re in a situation where we have to pay attention to the standings,” Scioscia said. ”Everything is not totally in our control, but if we keep winning you keep pressure on the teams.

”Forget winning series. We’re talking about winning every pitch. That’s where we are. The only thing we control is how we play. We need to bring it for the last 15 games. It’s getting to the point of the season, where we’re going to have to get some help. Cause if every team wins out and we win out, we’re on the outside looking in.”

Trumbo, who had hit just .177 with 62 strikeouts in his previous 37 games to drop his average from .306 to .268, homered off Will Smith (5-8) in the second inning.

Haren (11-11) improved to 3-1 in his past four starts, holding the Royals to three runs, two earned, and five hits, while walking one and striking out five. He also moved to 4-0 in five career starts at Kansas City.

”The amount of games we can lose is very limited, so every loss hurts,” Haren said. ”It’s not that we’re not trying to catch Texas. For us rather than scoreboard watch, our games are so important. We just can’t lose that many games. Every game is so magnified right now.”

Torii Hunter, who has 17 RBIs in his past 18 games, singled home Erick Aybar, who had doubled, in the first inning.

After closer Ernesto Frieri gave up two home runs in the ninth Saturday to blow a save and take the loss and throwing 30 pitches in a game Friday, Jespen was summoned in the ninth and picked up his second save in four chances. Jespen has held opponents to one earned run in 11 2-3 innings in his last 12 outings.

The Angels got a major scare in the fourth inning when outfielders Mike Trout and Hunter collided while chasing Billy Butler’s double to right-center. Scioscia and the trainer came out, but both remained in the game. Butler wound up scoring on Howie Kendrick’s throwing error after Jeff Francoeur’s infield single, trimming the Angels’ lead to 4-3.

Tony Abreu led off the Kansas City third with his first home run in nearly two years. Abreu’s previous home run was Sept. 26, 2010, while with Arizona against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Salvador Perez, who had the walk-off homer Saturday, doubled to lead off the second, advanced to third on Mike Moustakas’ ground out and scored on Jeff Francoeur’s ground out for the Royals’ first run.

Smith gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks in five innings.

”It didn’t start out the way I wanted to,” Smith said. ”Trumbo’s homer was a two-seamer right down the middle. He’s a good hitter. He did what he’s supposed to do with it.

”After the home run I started to dial it up. I need to do it in the first inning, not the third inning after giving up four runs.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals seem as though they’ve been a team on the rise for years, with each crop of hot young prospects supposedly the group that is going to drag the franchise up from the depths of the AL Central.

Billy Butler is hoping this latest batch of fresh faces will finally help them finish the job.

Butler had three hits and three RBIs, and the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen picked up struggling starter Luke Hochevar with four scoreless innings in a 10-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

”I just think it’s good for our young guys to get confidence. I think every year I’ve been here we’ve had good Septembers, but we got a good August and September,” Butler said. ”Outside of a 12-game losing streak earlier in the season we’ve played really good baseball. … We’ve been really consistent after that, and it’s something we can build on in the offseason and it might make us ready sooner.”

Salvador Perez homered and drove in two runs for the Royals, who sent 10 batters to the plate in their five-run fifth and another nine in a four-run eighth.

The Royals went 17-11 in August and have won four of their last five games to improve to 6-6 in September. But they remain a few front-of-the-rotation arms away from being a legitimate threat.

Hochevar was supposed to be one of those guys, but he continues to underwhelm. He got behind 1-0 in the first on Wednesday night after a leadoff triple from Span, walked three straight batters in the third, including Doumit with the bases loaded, and gave up two more runs after the Royals handed him a 6-3 lead in the fifth.

”He hasn’t won a game in his last seven starts and I wanted to get him over that hump,” manager Ned Yost said. ”He was working hard out there, maybe a little too hard. He was trying with everything that he had to get over that hump, too. I was bound and determined to give him every opportunity to do it.”

Hochevar (8-13) won for the first time since July 31, but he gave up five runs on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts in five innings. Tim Collins pitched two innings before Kevin Herrera and Francisley Bueno finished the game.

”Of course that wears on you,” Hochevar said of his skid. ”Regardless of that, I’m going to go out and fight for every pitch, I’m going to go out and compete to the best of my ability. Tonight, our offense picked me up.”

P.J. Walters (2-4) gave up six runs on seven hits in four innings and Twins left fielder Ryan Doumit was charged with three errors in the eighth to help the Royals put the game out of reach.

Joe Mauer missed his second straight game because of back spasms for the Twins.

Doumit, who has primarily served as the backup catcher to Mauer, has been working his way into left field more often recently to try to keep his bat in the lineup. The acclimation turned ugly in the eighth when he dropped a fly ball from Johnny Giavotella after a long run to the gap, then booted a hard-hit single by Alcides Escobar that allowed a run to score. Doumit’s throw also allowed two runners to advance, giving him a third error in the inning.

It was the second time this season, and fourth since 2010, that a player has committed three errors in one inning, according to STATS LLC. Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss did it in the sixth against San Francisco on June 23.

”It’s part of the learning curve,” Doumit said. ”It’s part of all that. It’s embarrassing, but I’m going to learn from it and go out and get ’em tomorrow.”

— Associated Press —

Will Smith is probably auditioning for a spot in Kansas City’s rotation next season.

Having Salvador Perez as his catcher sure helps his cause.

Smith pitched seven shutout innings, Eric Hosmer homered and the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 9-1 on Tuesday night.

Lorenzo Cain had two RBIs and was a home run away from the cycle as Kansas City beat Minnesota for just the sixth time in 16 games.

Perez extended his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games and threw out two runners trying to steal in support of Smith (5-7), who struck out a career-high seven and gave up seven hits in his first win in four starts.

“That guy’s awesome,” Smith said about Perez. “He’s so good. You love having him back there. You feel confident that the running game, he’s just going to completely shut it down.”

Ryan Doumit had the Twins’ RBI and Ben Revere had three hits.

Joe Mauer was in the initial starting lineup, but was scratched after experiencing back spasms before batting practice.

The atmosphere at Target Field brought back memories of the Metrodome, and not only because of all the empty seats for a September game featuring two teams out of contention.

With two outs and two runners on in the second inning, Cain hit a towering fly to left field. Josh Willingham lost it in the sky, holding out his hands as the ball fell 15 feet behind him and both runners scored.

Outfielders losing flyballs was a common occurrence under the white Teflon roof of the Metrodome, but hasn’t been a problem under the lights at Target Field.

“It was just the time of day. It’s frustrating when you can’t see the ball,” Willingham said. “You can’t catch it if you can’t see it. Can’t see it, it’s pretty helpless.”

The miscue didn’t help Scott Diamond (11-7) get back on track.

The left-hander allowed four runs and 10 hits over six innings and has just one victory in his last six starts.

The first two Twins batters reached in the first, fourth and fifth innings, but they couldn’t break through against Smith.

Perez threw out basestealers to help erase the threats in the first and fifth, and Smith got Doumit to ground into a double play and struck out Trevor Plouffe to end the fourth.

The Twins had 16 stolen bases in their last 11 games, but were no match for Perez’s strong arm and quick release. Jamey Carroll and Darin Mastroianni fell victim to Perez on Tuesday.

“It kept the momentum on our side,” manager Ned Yost said about Perez, who has caught 11 of the last 21 runners trying to steal on him.

Cain got hit in the head by reliever Luis Perdomo in the eighth.

The ball appeared to hit Cain in the back of his helmet as he ducked, but Cain sat up quickly and remained in the game after sitting in the batter’s box and getting checked out by trainers.

“The guys definitely let me know I was a home run away from the cycle,” Cain said. “I was looking for a pitch to drive and ended up getting hit in the head. I went down for a second, but I’ll be fine. Bounced back up and I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Cain also said the back of his head was a little sore and he had a light headache.

The Royals scored five runs in the eighth and ninth, capped by Hosmer’s 14th home run.

Alcides Escobar added two hits and two RBIs.

— Associated Press —-

Michael Young is able to handle his lower-than-usual stats this season because the numbers he cares most about are wins.

Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff triple in the 10th inning and scored on Young’s single to lift the Texas Rangers over the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Thursday night.

Josh Hamilton and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back homers in the fourth to help the AL West leaders overcome a 3-0 deficit.

“Knocking in runs leads to wins,” said Young, a seven-time All-Star who is hitting .269, 35 points below his career average entering this season. “That’s the only stat I care about is racking up wins. I don’t care about the numbers that are in the past. Those games are done. They’re as much in the past as numbers I put up 10 years ago, they’re in the past. I’m always focused on the next game and the next opportunity.”

The Rangers (82-55) moved a season-high 27 games above .500 and own the best record in franchise history after 137 games. They won their sixth straight series and upped their division lead to 5 1/2 games over idle Oakland.

With Kinsler on third base and no outs, Young was looking for a pitch to lift.

“I’m trying to stay in the middle of the field, stay as short and quick as I possibly can and get something up in the zone that I can hit on a line or higher,” Young said. “The last thing you want to do is hit a ground ball right there, just try to get something up and use the whole field.”

Young had hit just .222 in his previous 22 games, but Rangers manager Ron Washington remained in his corner even after the promotion of 19-year-old phenom Jurickson Profar, who homered in his first big league at-bat Sunday but did not play in the four games at Kansas City.

“Michael has been grinding all year,” Washington said. “There’s no change in him. The only thing is things are working now. I believe in Michael Young and I’m going to play Michael Young. You don’t get over 2,000 hits and not be able to hit. He’s done a lot of things in 10 years. I’m on his ship.”

Mike Adams (4-3) allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth. Joe Nathan earned his 30th save in 31 tries, converting his 28th consecutive opportunity since a blown save on April 11. It was the right-hander’s 39th career save against Kansas City.

Greg Holland (6-4) took the loss.

Royals starter Luke Hochevar took a 3-0 lead into the fourth and retired his first 10 batters before Young’s single. Four pitches later the score was tied after Hamilton and Beltre hit consecutive home runs for the fourth time this season and second on this road trip.

Hamilton leads the majors with 39 homers and is tied with Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera for the RBI lead with 116. Beltre, who has 30 home runs, has been the hottest hitter in the majors over the past 17 games with 11 homers, 21 RBIs, 16 runs and a .435 batting average.

“You can’t make mistakes against them,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “They do a lot of damage with home runs. They’re geared for it. It’s the way they are built, for quick strikes.

“Luke got a pitch up to Hamilton, but he made a pretty good pitch to Beltre. He’s so hot now he’s spanking everything.”

Hochevar, who is 0-4 with a 5.74 ERA in seven starts since a July 31 victory, was pulled with one out in the seventh when the Rangers went ahead 4-3. Geovany Soto’s double knocked in David Murphy, who had singled.

Kelvin Herrera replaced Hochevar and on the next pitch induced Craig Gentry to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Scott Feldman, who is 0-5 in his past six starts, left with a 4-3 lead, but the Texas bullpen failed to hold it for even one batter. After Feldman retired the leadoff hitter in the seventh, Washington summoned left-hander Michael Kirkman to face Eric Hosmer, who homered on a 3-1 pitch.

“I made a little adjustment,” Feldman said after the third inning. “Getting those three runs back was huge and from there basically just throwing to Geo’s (catcher Geovany Soto) glove and trying to make pitches. We’re capable of striking back pretty quickly like you saw tonight.”

Jeff Francoeur, who entered batting just .128 with no extra-base hits and one RBI in 14 games, homered in the second inning off Feldman.

Alex Gordon stroked a run-scoring triple in the third and scored on Salvador Perez’s single. Perez extended his hitting streak to 11 games, matching his career best.

The Royals stole three bases without a throw, including two swipes of third by Lorenzo Cain. Rangers opponents have stolen 24 consecutive bases without being caught since Aug. 6.

On the flip side, Perez picked off Gentry at first base, his second pickoff of the series and fourth this season — a Royals record.

— Associated Press —

The Texas Rangers figure they’ll be just fine if they keep focusing on themselves.

That’s why the AL West leaders were lounging on black leather sofas in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, hours before playing Kansas City, and stifling laughter as they watched comedian Robin Williams do a stand-up routine on television.

Rather than watching, say, second-place Oakland’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.

“Those guys aren’t worrying about that,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “If we take care of our business, it doesn’t matter what they do.”

Well, the Rangers certainly took care of their business. Adrian Beltre hit a three-run homer, Michael Young also went deep and Texas held on for a 7-6 victory over the Royals to open a five-game lead in the division after the A’s lost their matinee.

Ryan Dempster (5-1) gave up RBI doubles to Billy Butler in the first inning and Salvador Perez in the sixth, but was otherwise stingy for the Rangers. He only allowed two other hits in six sharp innings, striking out eight to win his fourth consecutive game.

“You know, I was in a situation where I was pitching for pride,” said Dempster, acquired in a July 31 trade with the Chicago Cubs. “Now I’m just trying to do my best every fifth day.”

Beltre’s homer came off Everett Teaford (1-4), who was making his fifth start of the year. Young’s solo shot came off Vin Mazzaro during a three-run seventh.

The runs proved handy when Kansas City mounted a late comeback. Alcides Escobar’s RBI single off Joe Nathan put the potential tying run on first with two outs in the ninth, but Alex Gordon flied out to end the game. It was Nathan’s 27th consecutive save.

Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz also drove in runs to help the Rangers (81-55) move a season-high 26 games above .500, and assure a club-record fourth straight season of .500 or better.

The 28-year-old Teaford was called upon to make his first start for Kansas City since July 8, when he allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings at Detroit. He’s been exemplary in long relief — he threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings last Saturday against Minnesota — but less effective as a starter.

That proved to be the case again Wednesday night.

Kinsler led off the game with a single, and after Andrus went down swinging, Josh Hamilton walked to put runners on first and second for the hottest hitter in the Texas lineup.

Beltre calmly waited for a 1-2 pitch from Teaford and sent it soaring over the left-field wall for a three-run homer, his 29th of the season. The ball landed just shy of the fountains.

“That’s what I’m supposed to be doing,” Beltre said demurely.

The slugging third baseman also tripled and scored in the eighth, giving him 10 homers, seven doubles and two triples since Aug. 20. Beltre has scored 15 runs and driven in 20 in that stretch.

“I saw his charts yesterday and the whole chart was like, red against lefties. It’s basically a heat map. Red would describe Kansas City in July, that kind of hot,” Teaford said. “If you make a bad pitch, he hits it real well. He’s tough. You’ve just got to hope to make good pitches.”

The Royals clawed back with runs in the first and sixth, but Texas added three in the seventh, the homer by Young starting things off. Kansas City added two more runs in the bottom half to keep it close, and the teams traded runs in the eighth before Nathan held on through a shaky ninth.

The veteran closer has 28 saves in 29 chances this season.

“We played catch-up all night, and when we’d get close they’d tack on,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “The three-run seventh did us in.”

— Associated Press —