Angels power past Kansas City, 7-1
Reporting from Kansas City, Mo. -- The Angels were a man down and still went on a power play Monday, kicking off a 14-game trip by smacking three home runs — by Juan Rivera, Maicer Izturis and Mike Napoli — in a 7-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Kauffman Stadium.
They are now 2-0 without star first baseman Kendry Morales, who suffered a freakish and possible season-ending injury when he broke a bone above his left ankle while jumping onto home plate in celebration of his walk-off grand slam Saturday.
Granted, the wins have come over the lowly Seattle Mariners and Royals, but sometimes adversity brings out the best in teams, as it did last summer with the Angels, who overcame the loss of their top hitter for five weeks and their cleanup batter for a month and still ran away with the division title.
The Angels were 46-37 and a half-game back in the American League West when Torii Hunter went on the disabled list July 10. They were 24-8 in Hunter’s absence, and when the center fielder returned Aug. 17, the Angels were 70-45 and 4½ games up in the division.
The Angels also lost Vladimir Guerrero for a month while Hunter was out, and they not only survived, but thrived. Hunter thinks the Angels, who have won three straight, are responding well to Morales’ absence.
“It seems like the whole team is trying to contribute, and that’s pretty cool,†Hunter said. “You can’t make up for the loss of Kendry Morales. Kendry is Kendry. But I think we’ve got enough to compete and get it done.â€
They had more than enough on Memorial Day to back the superb pitching of Ervin Santana, who gave up one run and seven hits, struck out six and walked none in seven innings to win his fourth straight start and improve to 5-3.
The right-hander, who had what Royals Manager Ned Yost called “the best slider we’ve seen all year,†has given the Angels quality starts — six innings or more, three earned runs or fewer — in six of his last seven games.
Rivera jump-started the Angels in the second when he ended an 0-for-21 skid with a solo shot against Royals starter Luke Hochevar that traveled an estimated 424 feet over the bullpen in left field for his seventh homer.
Izturis lined an opposite-field, solo shot off the left-field foul pole in the third for his first homer, and Napoli matched a club record for most home runs by an Angels catcher in a month with a two-run shot in the eighth.
Napoli, who also singled and scored in the second and doubled and scored in the sixth, finished May with eight homers to tie Earl Averill’s record, set in May 1961.
“He gets red-hot and he has some cold spells,†Manager Mike Scioscia said of Napoli, who hit .322 (28 for 87) in May with 19 extra-base hits and 17 runs batted in. “Right now is a good time for him to contribute.â€
The same could be said for the rest of the lineup, which must find a way to absorb the loss of Morales, who leads the Angels in average (.290), homers (11) and RBIs (39).
“You might get a spark, but when you lose guys for the amount of time we lost Torii and Vlad last year, and for as long as we project losing Kendry, you’re not going to make up for all the offense they bring,†Scioscia said.
“But if you look at the offense as a whole, we’ll still be able to pressure teams and score runs. It might be a coincidence that it’s happening without Kendry, because a lot of these guys were due to have some hits fall in and to start squaring the ball up.â€
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