Royals at Angels
The Kansas City Royals pulled off a three-game sweep of the heavily favored Angels in an American League Division Series last season en route to winning the AL pennant, but that is a distant memory in the Los Angeles clubhouse. "It's just another baseball game,'' catcher Chris Iannetta told reporters about Friday's home opener against Kansas City. "We turned the page a long time ago. It'll just be another team that we play."
The Angels began the healing process by taking two of three from fellow AL West contender Seattle to open 2015, while the Royals already have the feeling of wearing a bulls-eye on their backs after sweeping the Chicago White Sox in a somewhat contentious three-game series involving AL Central rivals. "If someone were to say we're hitting on all cylinders, I'd have to agree," Kansas City manager Ned Yost told reporters after the Royals outscored the White Sox 21-7. Kansas City center fielder Lorenzo Cain has been an early focal point, getting hit by a pitch Monday one batter after Mike Moustakas homered against Jeff Samardzija, belting a home run Wednesday and making two highlight reel catches Thursday. The Royals' Jason Vargas faces his former team and opposes Hector Santiago, who lost his first seven decisions in a Los Angeles uniform last season before rebounding to become a key contributor down the stretch.
TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, FSN Kansas City, FSN West (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals LH Jason Vargas (2014: 11-10, 3.71 ERA) vs. Angels LH Hector Santiago (2014: 6-9, 3.75)
Vargas had a rough spring training (19 earned runs and 29 hits in 21 1/3 innings), but finished the exhibition season in style by throwing four hitless frames against Houston on Saturday. The 32-year-old Californian is 5-4 with a 3.02 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) against Los Angeles and 9-3, 2.86 in 20 appearances (19 starts) at Angel Stadium. Angels center fielder Mike Trout, the 2014 AL MVP, is 6-for-15 with a home run against Vargas.
Santiago yielded 11 earned runs and 22 hits in 16 1/3 innings during spring training. The 27-year-old New Jersey native, though, saw his slider come to life after moving a couple inches on the rubber during a minor-league game March 31 and told reporters: "Just me tweaking that thing on my slider helped everything else.” Santiago yielded a two-run homer to Eric Hosmer during 1 1/3 innings of relief in an 8-3 loss to Kansas City in Game 3 of the 2014 ALDS.
WALK-OFFS
1. Los Angeles 1B Albert Pujols on Wednesday hit his 521st home run, tying Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Frank Thomas for 18th all-time.
2. The Royals hit six home runs in its first three games after needing 15 contests to reach that number in 2014, when they finished last in baseball with 95 homers.
3. Pujols and Trout were a combined 5-for-22 against Seattle with Trout striking out five times in 11 at-bats.