Angels 4, Royals 2
Jered Weaver pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and Torii Hunter homered as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the host Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Thursday.
Weaver (1-0) gave up just two hits and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings. Fernando Rodney got the final three outs for the save.
Hunter led off the fourth inning with a booming homer to straight-away center field. Vernon Wells followed with a double and scored when Erick Aybar doubled inside the first-base line.
The Angels added two runs in the sixth on Jeff Mathis’ homer to left and a run-scoring single by Maicer Izturis.
Kansas City got on the board in the seventh on Jeff Francoeur’s two-out homer off Hisanori Takahashi. Mike Aviles homered off Kevin Jepsen to lead off the Royals’ eighth, and Kansas City loaded the bases on three walks before Angels reliever Michael Kohn struck out Francoeur and retired Alcides Escobar on a fly ball.
Matt Treanor drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and Melky Cabrera hit a two-out single before Rodney struck out Alex Gordon for the final out.
Cabrera went 3-for-4 and had both of Kansas City’s hits off Weaver.
Hunter, Mathis, Izturis and Peter Bourjos all had two hits for Los Angeles, which had 12 hits.
Royals starter Luke Hochevar (0-1) gave up four runs – three earned – and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.