The Los Angeles Angels showed remarkable resilience on Friday as they opened up a three-game series at Kaufman Stadium against the Kansas City Royals. Although the Royals grabbed two leads and put out plenty of offense, the Angels were able to rally more than once and pick up a big 9-7 win.
The Royals jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning after a pair of solo home runs from Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas. Jason Bourgeois contributed an RBI single to the efforts of the home team in the third inning to make it 3-0 Kansas City.
The Angels answered back with a big four-run fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead. Howie Kendrick drove in a pair of runs with a double and Alberto Callaspo drove in another two runs with an RBI single.
Neither team was finished scoring at that point, however. In the bottom of the sixth, Moustakas hit a sacrifice fly to tie things up and Jeff Francoeur hit a two-run homer that gave the Royals the led once again, 6-4. Erick Aybar hit an RBI double in the seventh to get the Halos one run closer, but Alcides Escobar hit an RBI single in the bottom of the frame to make it 7-5.
The Angels managed to put together one more big inning in the top of the eighth. With two outs, Kendrys Morales hit a two-run homer to tie things up and Torii Hunter drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Halos back on top for good.
The Angels were able to pick up an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Kole Calhoun beat out what would have been a double-play grounder, allowing Vernon Wells to score.
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