KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Albert Pujols homered and drove in three runs, Ian Kinsler had three hits and a sacrifice fly that scored Shohei Ohtani with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Los Angeles Angels rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Friday night.

The Angels have won six straight and nine of 10. Their 12-3 start matches their best record after 15 games, set in 1979.

Zack Cozart and Ohtani, who doubled in his first at-bat, led off the eighth with singles off Justin Grimm (0-2). After Andrelton Simmons advanced the runners with a bunt, Luis Valbuena’s pinch-single scored Cozart and moved Ohtani to third. Kinsler’s flyout to center drove in Ohtani.

Blake Wood (1-0) worked a spotless seventh to pick up the victory. Keynan Middleton pitched the ninth for his third save in as many opportunities.

Pujols hit a two-run homer in the third with Kinsler aboard. Pujols’ two-out single in the seventh scored Kinsler.

Paulo Orlando had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run to lead the Royals. Lucas Duda had three singles and scored a run.

Royals starter Jason Hammel held the Angels to two runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney, who had elbow surgery last year, allowed four runs — one unearned — and seven hits over five innings in his first start. He walked one and struck out seven.

ANGELS’ PREFERRED LINEUP

For the first time this season, the Angels’ lineup included Kinsler, Cozart and Ohtani with the other six position players. Ohtani moved up to the seventh spot for the first time after batting eighth in his previous six DH starts. While Kinsler was on the disabled list, the Angels went 9-3 with Cozart leading off. Manager Mike Scioscia, however, opted to put Kinsler back at the top of the order, with Cozart batting sixth. “There was a lot of discussion of Coz staying there, but in the big picture of where we want to be in the long term, it has Ian leading off and Coz in a role hopefully with some guys on base,” Scioscia said.

ROSTER MOVES

Angels: RHP Felix Pena was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake to make roster space for Heaney.

Royals: RHP Brandon Maurer was optioned to Triple-A Omaha with an 0-2 record, a 12.46 ERA and allowing three home runs in 4 1/3 innings. He allowed three inherited runners to score Thursday on a triple by Ohtani. “I think it was obvious to everybody that the time was right,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s a better pitcher than that. He’s a guy that should be an eighth-inning guy. He’s a guy that should be able to close out games on days your closer needs a day. He’s got that really good stuff. It’s just he’s off kilter and out of whack. He just needs to go get some confidence, have some success and come back up and take that position.” RHP Kevin McCarthy was called up from the Storm Chasers.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Yost said C Salvador Perez (left knee sprain) would likely begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. … OF Alex Gordon hit in the cages and did some soft toss in his first activity since Monday when he was diagnosed with a left hip labral tear.

UP NEXT

Angels: RHP Garrett Richards will make his first start at Kauffman Stadium since August 13, 2015.

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis has not given up a run over 14 innings in his first two starts.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a bases-loaded triple in a five-run seventh inning to help the streaking Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.

Ian Kinsler homered on his first swing in his return to the Angels’ lineup, and Nick Tropeano (1-0) pitched shutout ball into the seventh for his first major league win since 2016.

Los Angeles has won eight of nine.

Ohtani drove a 1-2 pitch from Brandon Maurer to right-center, scoring Kole Calhoun, Andrelton Simmons and Luis Valbuena. The Royals walked Ohtani intentionally in the sixth with first base open and Simmons on second.

Ohtani is tied with Mike Trout for the Angels’ lead with 11 RBI in 26 at-bats. Trout went 3 for 4 with his fifth home run and has 55 at-bats.

Kinsler led off the game with a home run for the 47th time in his career, driving a 1-0 pitch from Ian Kennedy (1-1) out to left. Kinsler missed the previous 11 games with an adductor strain.

Tropeano, making his first big league appearance since July 18, 2016, limited the Royals to six hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He had elbow surgery in August 2016 and missed last season.

Tropeano threw 88 pitches, struck out six and walked two.

Kennedy was removed after six innings and 100 pitches. He allowed seven hits but just the one run on Kinsler’s homer.

The Royals, who have lost eight of 11, have scored a total of 32 runs — and 10 of those came in Monday’s victory over Seattle.

Lucas Duda singled home Mike Moustakas, who doubled, with two outs in the eighth for Kansas City.

LINEUP CHANGES

Royals DH Whit Merrifield hit fifth for the second time in his career. He batted second in the first 10 games of the season. “Whit has been a good table-setter, now let’s see if we can take him from a table-setter to a table-cleaner-upper,” manager Ned Yost said. Jorge Soler replaced Merrifield in the 2-hole and struck out four times. Merrifield went 0 for 4 and stranded three runners. . Angels INF Zack Cozart, who had started the first 13 games, 12 at second base, was given the night off.

ROSTER MOVES

The Angels optioned RHP Jamie Barria, who won his big league debut on Wednesday at Texas, and INF Ryan Schimpf to Triple-A Salt Lake.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: OF Alex Gordon, on the disabled list with a left labrum tear, had 2009 surgery on a right labrum tear. He said this feels similar to 2009. “I feel like I’m a different stage of my career right now and surgery is the last thing I want to do right now,” said the 34-year-old five-time Gold Glove winner. He received a cortisone shot Monday and has been shut down since. “They’re pretty optimistic about it,” Gordon said. “The first thing they (the medical staff) said was, this doesn’t have to be surgery. You hear the labrum tear and you get down in the dumps. This is my last day of not doing anything. After today, I’ll have a lot better answers for you as far as how it feels and maybe the timetable upon the return.”

UP NEXT

Angels: LHP Andrew Heaney gets the ball Friday night in Kansas City, his first start of the year after beginning the season on the disabled list with elbow inflammation.

Royals: RHP Jason Hammel will try to build off Sunday’s strong outing. He threw six scoreless innings in a no-decision at Cleveland.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Scott Servais reclined in a chair in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium, a big smile on the Seattle manager’s face, and spoke before the first reporter could ask a question.

“Long road trip, happy road trip,” he said. “Cold road trip.”

Most of it.

The weather finally turned Wednesday and gave Seattle a warm, sun-splashed afternoon in Kansas City, and Servais’ club made sure to relish the spring-like temperatures. Kyle Seager hit a go-ahead homer with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Mariners held on to beat the Royals 4-2 to wrap up a winning seven-game journey that covered 10 days and about 5,200 miles.

Seattle went 4-3 on its visits to San Francisco, Minnesota and Kansas City.

“I thought we played really good baseball, and getting these wins the past two games really sets the pace for us going home,” said James Paxton, who matched a career-best with 10 strikeouts over six sharp innings before turning the game over to the Seattle bullpen.

Nick Vincent (1-0) worked a perfect seventh, and Juan Nicasio retired three in a row after putting runners on the corners, before closer Edwin Diaz entered for the ninth.

Diaz worked around shortstop Jean Segura’s second error of the game to earn his fourth save.

“Our guys up and down the lineup, but probably the top of the lineup, have been outstanding, really driving the train for us,” Servais said. “I like where we’re at.”

The Royals’ Danny Duffy and Brad Keller turned a 2-2 game over to reliever Justin Grimm (0-1), and he quickly got the first two outs in the eighth. But after walking Mitch Haniger, the reliever hung a 1-1 pitch that Seager popped into the Royals’ bullpen in right field.

Seager also drove in a run with sacrifice fly in the first to provide most of Seattle’s offense.

“After the first inning really good, but you don’t get to subtract any inning from any outing,” Duffy said. “When I take the ball, I expect the bullpen not to be used much, and that hasn’t been the case. I was off in the first inning. There was no excuse for that.”

What turned into a pitchers’ duel Wednesday looked as if it’d be a high-scoring affair early.

Duffy gave up a single, walked three, withstood an ugly error by his catcher and at one point loaded the bases, only to escape the inning having surrendered just two runs.

Paxton countered by walking his first batter and allowing a single, but came through unscathed when Jon Jay was thrown out trying to steal third and Cheslor Cuthbert grounded out to end the inning.

The Royals eventually knotted the game at 2 in the fourth on Paulo Orlando’s two-out double.

Duffy’s pitch count did him in, and the left-hander was lifted after getting the first out in the fifth inning. He allowed four hits and three walks but also struck out seven.

Paxton scattered six hits and a walk while keeping the Royals at bay.

“Paxton did a great job of bearing down when we got runners in scoring position. We were 1-for-11,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Not real productive in that phase of our game today.”

STATS AND STREAKS

The Mariners’ Dee Gordon extended his hit streak to 16 games dating to last season. … Seager had four go-ahead homers in the eighth inning or later last season. … The Royals fell to 3-7, their worst start through 10 games since 2012. They’ve allowed 42 runs in their seven losses and no runs in their three wins. … The Royals’ Mike Moustakas went 2 for 4, his fourth straight multi-hit game.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: DH Nelson Cruz (sprained ankle) did some running before the game. Servais said he hopes Cruz will be able to return to the lineup this weekend.

Royals: RHP Nate Karns (elbow inflammation) continues to throw side sessions, and Yost said the last hurdle to his return is some fluid on the outside of his elbow dissipating. Yost says that Karns will likely head to the bullpen when he returns.

UP NEXT

Mariners: After a day off, RHP Mike Leake takes the mound Friday night when the Mariners open a seven-game homestand with three games against the Oakland Athletics.

Royals: RHP Ian Kennedy tries to build on a solid start to his season when the Royals begin a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Felix Hernandez thought his fastball command was the key against Kansas City.

Scott Servais thought it was his ace’s curveball.

Both gave the Royals fits Tuesday night.

The Mariners’ star right-hander bounced back from a miserable start in San Francisco to pitch into the sixth inning, and Guillermo Heredia homered to lead a big offensive outburst as Seattle rebounded from a blowout loss to the Royals with an 8-3 victory that evened their series.

“He was attacking the strike zone, and we talked about getting his curveball going and he really did,” Servais said. “Much more in control tonight and had good results.”

Hernandez (2-1) allowed three runs, six hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings, leaving primarily because his pitch count was driven up. His only big mistake came in the fourth, when Mike Moustakas turned on a 2-1 pitch and sent a two-run homer screaming into the right-field fountains.

But that was also just about the only offense the Royals could muster, one night after they piled up 10 runs to back a near-no-hit performance by Jakob Junis and their bullpen.

Eric Skoglund (0-1) was hardly as efficient or effective. The lanky left-hander allowed five runs, six hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. He was clearly rusty from a nearly monthlong layoff caused by rainouts and weather problems, hitting the first batter he faced and three in all.

“I felt better as the game went on,” he said. “I made some mistake pitches early in the game that cost us, but as the game went on I felt better and the confidence is there.”

As for not pitching in a game since an exhibition March 17?

“It is what it is, man. It’s baseball. It’s part of it,” Skoglund said. “I’ll just go out there and do everything I can to help the team win.”

Royals pitchers have plunked six Seattle hitters through the first two games of the series.

“(Skoglund) looked like he was rusty but our guys were putting good swings on him,” Servais said. “Up and down the lineup, we created a lot of traffic.”

Jean Segura had three hits and drove in two runs, and Mitch Haniger and Kyle Seager also had two RBI as the Mariners put together a pair of three-run innings to pull away.

“The whole offense was really good tonight,” Hernandez said.

The Royals tried to rally in the sixth, when they loaded the bases against Dan Altavilla. But the Mariners’ reliever struck out Paulo Orlando to preserve their 8-3 advantage, and James Pazos and closer Edwin Diaz wrapped up the last couple frames in tidy fashion.

“There are a lot of things we can build on off of tonight,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

STATS AND STREAKS

Diaz struck out the side in the ninth on 13 pitches. … The Mariners’ Mike Marjama had a leadoff double in the fourth, giving him five extra-base hits among his six career hits. … Heredia has homered twice in the last three games. … The Royals have allowed no runs in their three wins and 38 runs in their six losses. … Royals 2B Whit Merrifield had two hits, extending his home on-base streak to 19 games. … Moustakas has homered in six of his last nine games against Seattle.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: OF Ben Gamel (strained right oblique) is expected back Friday, Servais said. DH Nelson Cruz (sprained right ankle) and C Mike Zunino (strained left oblique) are close behind. … 1B Ryon Healy (sprained right ankle) was out of his walking boot Tuesday. He went on the DL the previous day, when he returned to Seattle to have his ankle examined.

Royals: OF Alex Gordon (torn left hip labrum) was placed on the DL prior to the game. Yost was optimistic the injury will not require surgery and that Gordon, a three-time All-Star, would be back in 10 days to two weeks. OF Abraham Almonte was recalled to take his place.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Danny Duffy tries to bounce back from two poor starts when he takes the hill for the series finale Wednesday afternoon. He will face Mariners LHP James Paxton, who is also 0-2 this season.

— Associated Press —