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Kansas City Royals offense erupts in win over Angels. The defense had highlights, too

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on

Published in Baseball

Kansas City Royals starter Michael Wacha needed a bounce-back performance.

Wacha, who entered Thursday with a 4.97 ERA in eight starts, was in a rough patch. He had allowed 11 earned runs in his last 91/3 innings.

In his last outing, Wacha was battered for seven runs against the Texas Rangers. It prompted the veteran to refine his approach ahead of Thursday’s start against the Los Angeles Angels.

The adjustments worked. Wacha limited the Angels to three runs as the Royals picked up a 10-4 victory in the series opener.

Wacha allowed three hits, five walks and registered six strikeouts in six innings. The Angels didn’t pose much of a threat early in the game. However, Wacha ran out of gas in the seventh inning.

The Angels scored three runs in the frame as Wacha lost his command late. Still, he did enough to produce a quality start by inducing seven flyouts, 52 total swings and 10 whiffs, per Baseball Savant.

 

He didn’t need much help, but he got plenty of it.

On offense ... and defense.

KC scored early against Angels starter Reid Detmers. In the third inning, Royals duo Dairon Blanco and Vinnie Pasquantino hit a pair of two-run homers.

Blanco drove an 87.2 mph slider into the left-field bullpen. Pasquantino blasted a 442-foot homer off the right-field facade.

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