Kansas City Royals vs Los Angeles Angels Box Score on Jun 17, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 17, 2017

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Alex Meyer pitched six shutout innings and Cameron Maybin hit a leadoff home run and stole his league-leading 21st base of the season as the Los Angeles Angels snapped Kansas City's six-game winning streak with a 9-0 victory.

Meyer (3-3) managed to do something no one has done during the Royals' recent West Coast road trip -- silence their bats. He allowed two soft singles and one precautionary walk, striking out nine and working out of a jam not of his making in the sixth inning.

He snapped a string of four straight games in which the Royals had 10 or more hits, hitting .350 with 25 runs in that span.

Maybin, meanwhile, continued to thrive in the leadoff spot. He hit the first pitch from Kansas City's Jake Junis (2-1) over the center field fence for his fourth home run of the season, equaling as many as he had last season. He has reached base in 22 straight games.

In the 20 games Maybin has hit in the No. 1 spot, he is hitting .387 with 24 runs scored, 13 extra base hits and 12 steals. He also doubled and stole third in the seventh, starting a four-run rally that put the game away. It was his 21st steal of the season and he's been thrown out only once.

Albert Pujols also homered, the 602nd of his career, and drove in two runs.

Meyer, who was obtained last season in a trade with Minnesota that sent Hector Santiago to the Twins, has put together a string of six excellent starts. During that run, he has thrown 33 innings and allowed 21 hits and seven earned runs, good for a 1.91 ERA while striking out 41. His nine strikeouts Saturday equaled his season and career high.

He worked out of a jam in the Royals sixth. Third baseman Yunel Escobar bobbled a grounder and second baseman Danny Espinosa dropped a throw on a double play ball by Whit Merrifield to put two on with no outs.

But Meyer induced Jorge Bonifacio to hit into a double play, worked around Lorenzo Cain with a five-pitch walk, and struck out Eric Hosmer to end the rally.

The Angels extended their lead to 3-0 with a four-hit fourth inning against Junis.

Luis Valbuena, Andrelton Simmons and Martin Maldonado all singled to left to load the bases with one out, and Espinosa followed with a sharp single to center to drive home two runs.

Espinosa, who had only three RBIs in May, has 10 in his 12 games this month.

The Angels extended the lead to 5-0 in the fifth. Kole Calhoun led off with a single and Pujols followed with a home run to left center -- his 11th of the season.

NOTES: Royals catcher Salvador Perez was not in the starting lineup, given the day off by manager Ned Yost. 3B Cheslor Cuthbert got the start at designated hitter ahead of Brandon Moss (.182). ... Angels RHP Cam Bedrosian was activated from the disabled list Saturday and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. The 25-year-old has been on the DL since suffering a groin injury in his third appearances of the season. ... Angels RHP Matt Shoemaker has been placed on the 10-day DL because of tightness in his right forearm. He suffered the injury in his last start Wednesday against the Yankees. It is not considered a long-term injury but he has yet to resume throwing, leading the club to put him on the DL since he will miss at least one turn in the rotation. ... The Angels recalled RHP Parker Bridwell from Salt Lake City and optioned Daniel Wright. ... The Angels and Royals wore uniforms with light blue hats, socks and uniform trim as part of a Father's Day and prostate cancer awareness weekend promotion. The light blue is very close to the color of uniforms -- called periwinkle -- the Angels briefly wore when they were owned by the Disney Co.