Angels continue mastery of K.C.
Kansas City, Mo. ? Never before have the Angels been this good at this point in the season.
Kansas City catcher John Buck, left, has a talk with pitcher Zack Greinke in the second inning of the Royals' 5-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. The game Sunday in Kansas City, Mo., was halted after five innings because of rain.
Jarrod Washburn pitched five scoreless innings Sunday night before rain brought the game to a halt, and Los Angeles beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-0, to give the Angels their best 81-game record in franchise history.
The Angels (50-31) have won 13 of 16 and are 71â2 games ahead of Texas in the AL West – another franchise best at the midway point.
“We’re a good team,” Washburn said. “I think we expect ourselves to be playing this well.”
They’ve been particularly tough on the hapless Royals (26-54), who are stuck with their worst record after 80 games. The Angels have beaten Kansas City nine straight times at Kauffman Stadium and have won 13 of the last 15 meetings overall. It also was their fourth sweep in the last five series against the Royals.
Zack Greinke (1-10) joined Seattle’s Ryan Franklin as the AL’s only 10-game losers. He was charged with five runs and 12 hits in five-plus innings. The right-hander, touted after his rookie season as the cornerstone of the Royals’ youth movement, has a 6.09 earned-run average after 17 starts this year.
“He’s such a smart kid. I think sometimes his head gets in the way,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said. “Ninety percent of the time he’s really good. It’s the other 10 percent that he’s been getting hurt.”
Washburn (5-3) gave up four hits in his sixth career complete game and first this season. His only other shutout was July 7 last year against the Chicago White Sox.
The left-hander struck out three and walked one, improving to 6-2 lifetime against the Royals.
The game was called with none out in the top of the sixth after a rain delay of 1 hour, 46 minutes.