ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout drove a long homer for the 250th of his career, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Saturday night.

Trout’s solo shot to left-center off starter Jakob Junis (3-5) made him the sixth AL player to reach 250 homers before his 28th birthday. The 473-footer was also his second longest since Statcast began measuring them in 2015 and the third longest in the majors this season.

Griffin Canning (2-1) pitched seven shutout innings, becoming the second Angels’ starter to go at least seven, which is worst in the majors. The rookie right-hander retired the first 12 Royals he faced and allowed three hits with five strikeouts. Ty Buttrey worked the final 1 2/3 innings for his second save.

Ohtani’s two-run homer to right in the sixth was his second of the season. Last season’s AL Rookie of the Year missed the first 34 games following Tommy John surgery.

After Trout’s homer, the Angels added another run in the second when Kole Calhoun led off with a double and scored on Jonathan Lucroy’s single.

Los Angeles added three in the sixth. Trout walked with one out before Ohtani clubbed a two-run shot over the right field wall for his first home run at Angels Stadium this season. Andrelton Simmons followed with a double to left and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored on Calhoun’s sacrifice fly to center to make it 5-0.

Kansas City got on the board with three in the eighth off Taylor Cole. Whit Merrifield had a two-run double and scored on Adalberto Mondesi’s bloop single.

Lucroy, who had two hits, singled in Simmons in the eighth inning to extend the Angels’ lead to three runs.

Junis also went seven innings and yielded five runs (four earned) on six hits with six strikeouts.

TRACKING TROUT

Trout joins Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Juan Gonzalez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez as the only AL players to hit 250 or more home runs prior to their age 28 season.

He is also the 13th player to accomplish that milestone overall. Teammate Albert Pujols, Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, Andruw Jones and Giancarlo Stanton reached it while playing in the NL.

Eight of Trout’s 10 homers this season have come at home. The tape-measure shot fell four feet shy of his career best, which came at Coors Field off Colorado’s Chris Rusin in 2015.

ROUGH STARTS

Junis has allowed nine runs in the first inning 10 starts this season. Teams are hitting .333 against him in the opening frame (14 for 42), including four home runs.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Kansas City has requested release waivers on Frank Schwindel, who was designated for assignment on Tuesday. Schwindel was the opening day first baseman but had just one hit in 15 at-bats in six games. There is a possibility he could be re-signed to a minor league contract.

Angels: OF Justin Upton (turf toe) is doing some throwing and hitting but the only running he is doing is on a treadmill. He is eligible to come off the 60-day injured list near the end of the month but said that it will “be a while” before he returns.

UP NEXT

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (2-1, 3.97 ERA) has won his last two starts. He is 2-2 in seven career outings against the Angels, including a 5-1 loss on April 26 when he allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.

Angels: LHP Tyler Skaggs (4-3, 5.05 ERA) has won three of his four starts since returning from the injured list (left ankle sprain). Teams have a .268 batting average against him, which is the highest among LA’s starting staff.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rougned Odor and the rest of the Texas Rangers had been using the Kansas City Royals’ beleaguered pitching staff for batting practice most of the sun-splashed afternoon.

Then the Rangers used their backup second baseman for it, too.

One of Odor’s two homers came off Chris Owings, who was summoned by the Royals in the eighth inning to try to close out the 16-1 blowout. Hunter Pence also went deep off the utility man as Texas hit five homers in all, piled up 21 hits and won the rubber game of the three-game series.

“We’ve done a good job of salvaging the last couple of games,” said the Rangers’ Lance Lynn, who earned the win with a strong start that ultimately got lost amid the barrage of runs.

“For me, I have a chance to ride a loss or a win from the night before,” he said. “That’s always my motto. Whatever happened the night before I want to get the team going.”

Calhoun and Joey Gallo each homered among their four hits, and Danny Santana also had four knocks, though some of that damage came off a utilityman. Royals manager Ned Yost wanted to save his bullpen for an upcoming road trip, so he called Owings off the bench in the eighth inning.

“I told him, `Look, don’t be stupid,” Yost said, “but he did a great job of saving our `pen.”

Lynn (5-3) allowed a run in the first but little else over the next six innings as the Rangers won their first road series in nine tries. Their last one came last September in San Diego.

Homer Bailey (4-4) allowed six runs, eight hits and four walks in an all-around dismal day for the Kansas City pitching staff. Brad Boxberger coughed up three runs in relief of him as the Royals lost the rubber game of a series for the 13th consecutive time dating to last season.

Kansas City actually struck in the first when youngster Nicky Lopez, capping a solid debut series, hit the first of his two doubles and Adalberto Mondesi followed with a sacrifice fly. But Lynn and the Rangers controlled the game the rest of the way.

They pulled even on Gallo’s homer to left leading off the fourth, then battered Bailey and the bullpen by sending five runs across during the decisive fifth inning.

It started with a leadoff walk to Isaih Kiner-Falefa, continued with consecutive singles by Danny Santana, Calhoun and Nomar Mazara, and included two more walks by Bailey that sent in a run.

The veteran right-hander was finally yanked from the game, and Brad Boxberger appeared to have the Royals out of the inning when he induced Odor to hit a groundball. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn was able to field the ball cleanly but threw it away, keeping their misery going.

“There was a couple of hits. We missed being in the right spot cutoff-wise, trying to hold the game right there,” Yost said. “Brought in Boxberger and throwing error broke it open for them.”

Texas pushed across three more runs in the sixth, drawing a trio of walks off Boxberger and former closer Wily Peralta. It was the second straight inning the Rangers batted through the order.

“It’s kind of what we’ve been doing all year,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “It was a 1-1 game going into the fifth. Homer Bailey was doing OK at that point. Those at-bats (in the fifth) kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. Big hits, big walks. That’s something we pride ourselves on. If you get a good pitch, take a rip. If not, let the next guy do it.”

NICE JOB, NICKY

Lopez was the Royals’ lone bright spot. Along with an RBI double, the 24-year-old rookie doubled in the third and drew a walk in the sixth while playing solid defense at solid second base.

STATS AND STREAKS

The Rangers have won five of six against Kansas City. They also have won nine of their last 11 at Kauffman Stadium. … Texas had lost 15 of 20 on the road. … The Royals had committed a league-low 14 errors before O’Hearn’s miscue in the fifth inning. … Owings allowed four runs on six hits and a walk while retiring five batters, giving him a 21.60 ERA for his career.

UP NEXT

The Rangers intend to use openers the first two games of their weekend series against St. Louis, though Woodward was not ready to say who they will be. The Royals head to Los Angeles to face the Angels on Friday night with Brad Keller (2-4, 4.47 ERA) on the mound.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ronald Guzman and Willie Calhoun each hit a two-run homer, and the Texas Rangers cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Shin-Soo Choo added a solo shot in the ninth inning and Nomar Mazara matched a career high with four hits as the Rangers snapped a five-game skid. They have won six of their last eight against Kansas City, including an 11-5 loss in the series opener Tuesday.

Mike Minor (4-3) got through five rocky innings, allowing one run on eight hits and two walks.

Guzman drove in a run in the fourth before sending a hanging pitch from Jorge Lopez (0-5) booming into the center field seats in the sixth. The two-out shot broke open a 3-1 game and sent Lopez, who had plunked two batters and struggled with command all night, trudging toward the showers.

Lopez allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out seven.

Calhoun, called up from Triple-A Nashville before the game, got the Rangers off to a good start. The erstwhile elite prospect sent a first-inning pitch from Lopez soaring into the seats over the right-field bullpen, the no-doubt shot staking Texas to a 2-0 lead.

Kansas City answered by manufacturing a run in the bottom half against Minor, whose last appearance at Kauffman Stadium came as the Royals’ closer in the final game of the 2017 season. But after Adalberto Mondesi’s RBI single, the veteran left-hander escaped the rest of the inning unscathed.

It wasn’t the last time he negotiated trouble.

Minor also stranded runners on second and third in the second and fourth, and he pinned another runner 90 feet from home in the fifth. By the time that inning ending, Minor had survived a shaky night and has still allowed just 11 earned runs over his last 55 innings.

The Rangers’ bullpen allowed only one hit over the final four innings.

INJURED ELVIS

Texas put shortstop Elvis Andrus on the injured list with a strained right hamstring after he left Tuesday night’s game in the seventh inning. Rangers manager Chris Woodward is hopeful Andrus will be ready to return in 10 days. “You don’t want this to linger with him,” Woodward said.

ROSTER MOVES

Calhoun was joined from Nashville by left-hander Jeffrey Springs to provide a fresh arm in the Texas bullpen. Right-hander Wei-Chieh Huang was optioned to the same club.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers right-hander Shawn Kelley could be activated in the next couple of days, Woodward said. Kelley has been dealing with a bacterial infection. … Woodward said right-hander Ariel Jurado will likely start Saturday against St. Louis. Woodward plans to get “creative” with the starter Sunday because left-hander Drew Smyly has a slight ankle sprain and his next turn could get pushed back a couple of days.

UP NEXT

The Royals wrap up their homestand Thursday by sending Homer Bailey (4-3, 4.83 ERA) to the mound against Texas. The Rangers counter with fellow right-hander Lance Lynn (4-3, 5.48).

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nicky Lopez rewarded the few thousand Kansas City Royals fans that stuck around through a game that stretched well past 3 hours with his first career hit, an RBI single late in their 11-5 rout of the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

But as he gazed up from first base, the Royals’ top prospect found the ones that mattered most.

“I saw my family up there,” he said, “and that’s how I always imagined it.”

Lopez, who was called up from Triple-A Omaha earlier in the day, was hardly the only Royals player to take some productive swings against the Rangers. Hunter Dozier drove in three runs, and Alex Gordon and Jorge Soler drove in two apiece, as the Royals scored nine times in the first two innings.

They quickly knocked out Shelby Miller (1-3), who was pulled with two outs in the second after he allowed eight runs on seven hits in two walks in another ugly post-Tommy John performance.

Danny Duffy (2-1) was only marginally better for Kansas City, using 107 pitches just to survive five innings. He allowed four runs, seven hits and a walk while striking out seven.

“You make a couple of bad pitches and all of a sudden they get four runs,” Duffy said. “When my team gives me nine runs, it’s a travesty to not go as long as I can.”

Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus left with tightness in his right hamstring after grounding out to end the seventh inning. He will be evaluated again Wednesday in another blow to a team that has lost five straight to fall a season-worst five games below .500.

“We’ll obviously evaluate him tomorrow,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said, “but he seems pretty optimistic. He hasn’t had a hamstring problem before. We’ll see when he wakes up tomorrow how he feels.”

The Royals pounced on Miller right from the start, sending seven to the plate in the first inning and jumping out to a 3-0 lead. But they cracked the game open in the second, when they sent 11 batters to the plate and drove in six runs against Miller and Rangers reliever Wei-Chieh Huang.

The stunning offensive outburst came after Kansas City managed six singles and no extra-base hits in a loss to the Phillies on Sunday. And it came after the arrival of Lopez, who got the start at second base and hit second behind Whit Merrifield in the lineup.

Lopez walked in the third before his first career hit made it a memorable night.

“Nicky had some great at-bats,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I was glad to see Nicky get his first hit. That’s under his belt and now he can move forward.”

Joey Gallo had a pair of RBI for the Rangers, who tried to climb back into the game with a four-run third. But they stranded runners in four consecutive innings, repeatedly failing to get the crucial hit they needed to avoid a 1-6 start to their nine-game, 10-day road trip.

“They put some runs together. They put some big innings together,” said Miller, whose ERA ballooned to 9.51 this season. “It’s disappointing. I feel like I let my team down big-time.”

NICKY’S NUMBER

The Royals originally made up No. 19 jerseys for Lopez, but he asked to wear No. 1 because it was the number his father wore in softball. New jerseys were made and arrived before first pitch.

ROSTER MOVES

The Royals made roster space for Lopez by sending right-hander Jake Newberry to Triple-A Omaha and designating first baseman Frank Schwindel for assignment. The Royals are hopeful Schwindel clears waivers and they can keep him in their organization.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers left-hander Cole Ragans, their first-round pick in the 2016 draft, will need a second Tommy John surgery after tearing his ulnar collateral ligament. The 21-year-old Ragans was close to pitching in a game for the first time since his last surgery when he began feeling discomfort about a week ago.

“It’s obviously concerning,” said Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, adding that surgery will be Wednesday. “This is the first Tommy John surgery we’ve had that’s failed.”

UP NEXT

The Royals hope Jorge Lopez (0-4, 6.07 ERA) can get on track Wednesday night after a blowout loss to the Astros. He goes against former Royals pitcher Mike Minor, who is 3-3 with a 2.68 ERA for Texas.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals are bringing up top prospect Nicky Lopez from Triple-A Omaha, and he could make his big league debut when Kansas City opens a series against Texas on Tuesday night.

Right-hander Jake Newberry was optioned to Omaha in a corresponding roster move Monday. The Royals will still need to make a move with their 40-man roster before selecting Lopez’s contract from Omaha and facing the Rangers.

The 24-year-old Lopez was the Royals’ fifth-round pick in the 2016 amateur draft. He was hitting .353 with three homers and nine stolen bases in 31 games for the Storm Chasers, and hit a combined .308 with Omaha and Double-A Northwest Arkansas last season.

That success earned him the organization’s George Brett Hitter of the Year award.

— Associated Press —