Rengifo

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-out solo home run in the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Angels 4-3 on Thursday night to avoid a sweep in a three-game series.

The Royals hit four solo homers in a game where all seven runs came on home runs.

Lucas Erceg (7-4) struck out two in one inning and Carlos Estévez picked up his major league-best 37th save.

Angels starter Kyle Hendricks allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, while Kansas City starter Noah Cameron allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.

The Angels (66-74) got on the board in the first on a three-run homer by Luis Rengifo. With two outs, Taylor Ward singled, Jo Adell walked and Rengifo hit a slider 384 feet down the left-field line.

The Royals (71-69) answered in the second on Adam Frazier’s home run, the 1,000th hit of his MLB career. Vinnie Pasquantino connected on his 29th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning to trim the deficit to 3-2.

The Royals tied it when Salvador Perez hit his 24th home run of the season, leading off the seventh inning.

Ryan Zeferjahn (6-5) took the loss.

Key moment: After the Royals tied the score in the bottom of the seventh, Erceg retired the Angels in order in the eighth.

Key stat: With his home run, Perez reached 495 career RBIs at Kauffman Stadium, breaking a tie with Frank White for the third most RBIs in the history of the ballpark. He trails George Brett (839) and Hal McRae (534).

Up next: The Angels return to start a three-game series with the Athletics. The Angels will send RHP José Soriano (10-9, 3.68 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Mason Barnett (0-1, 11.25).

Yusei Kikuchi threw seven strong innings, Luis Rengifo hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth and the Angels beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Bryce Teodosio doubled off reliever Graham Ashcraft (7-5) to open the eighth and took third on a wild pitch. Oswald Peraza grounded out, with Teodosio holding, and Rengifo fisted an RBI single over third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes’ head for the lead.

Reid Detmers (4-3) struck out two in a scoreless eighth for the victory. With Angels closer Kenley Jansen unavailable because of a left rib-cage injury, Luis Garcia retired the side in order in the ninth for his first save.

Both starters excelled in no-decisions, Reds right-hander Nick Martinez giving up one run and two hits in six innings, and the left-handed Kikuchi giving up one run and seven hits in seven innings, escaping a first-and-third, no-out jam in the second and a two-on, no-out jam in the sixth.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the third when Hayes doubled and scored on Noelvi Marte’s two-out RBI single. The Angels countered in the fourth on Yoán Moncada’s homer to left-center, his ninth of the season.

Angels shortstop Zach Neto was pulled to start the sixth because of left-wrist soreness after getting hit by a Martinez changeup in the third.

Key moment

A lack of communication between Teodosio, the Angels center fielder, and right fielder Jo Adell allowed Marte’s lazy fly ball to drop in the gap in the sixth, putting two on with no outs. But Kikuchi got Elly De La Cruz to fly to left and Miguel Andujar and Austin Hays to ground out to preserve a 1-1 tie.

Key stat

Kikuchi finished the sixth inning once in his previous nine starts and averaged 101 pitches through an average of five innings in his previous four starts. But he was much more efficient Wednesday, needing 88 pitches to complete seven innings.

Up next

The Angels are off Thursday. Left-hander Tyler Anderson is slated to start Friday at home against the Chicago Cubs.