Anaheim, Calif. ? Ervin Santana took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning and Dallas McPherson drove in two runs Monday night, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Los Angeles took an early 4-0 lead and held off Kansas City in a matchup of last-place teams. The Royals dropped to 16-46, the worst record in the major leagues. The Angels (28-35) ended a three-game skid.

Held hitless by Santana until the fifth inning, the Royals pulled to 4-3 in the seventh on Matt Stairs’ two-run homer, his sixth, and a run-scoring single by Angel Berroa that chased the Angels’ starter.

Santana (6-3) allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Scot Shields replaced Santana, who threw 96 pitches, and didn’t allow a baserunner in 1 1-3 innings. Francisco Rodriguez struck out three in the ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances. With a runner on second, he fanned Shane Costa and Mark Teahen to end it.

Bobby Keppel (0-2) gave up four runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings during his third major league start. The Royals’ rookie right-hander walked three and struck out one.

McPherson, who went 3-for-3, is 13-for-32 in his last 12 games after slumping for much of the year. He staked Los Angeles to a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second.

Garret Anderson’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the third, then McPherson and Orlando Cabrera had RBI doubles for a four-run pad in the fourth.

Stairs got the Royals’ first hit when he singled sharply to right field leading off the fifth. Teahen singled with two outs, advancing Stairs to third, but Santana got John Buck on a fly ball to end the threat.

The right-hander allowed only one baserunner through the first four innings, a first-inning walk to Doug Mientkiewicz.

The Royals got several fine fielding plays to help limit the damage in the second. Berroa charged and barehanded Mike Napoli’s grounder that bounced off Keppel’s glove and threw Napoli out at first. David DeJesus bounced off the wall and tumbled in right-center chasing down a drive by Adam Kennedy and managed to hang onto the ball.

DeJesus made another good catch in the next inning, an over-the-shoulder grab of Kendry Morales’ drive to deep left-center.

Notes: Cabrera extended his club record by reaching base safely in his 42nd consecutive game. That’s double his previous high of 21 in a row. Chili Davis had held the Angels’ record of 36 games in 1995. … The Royals are 6-27 on the road after beginning the season 2-20 away from home. … Kansas City will send out its 12th starter of the season in the second game of the series when Brandon Duckworth (0-0) opposes rookie Jered Weaver (3-0). Duckworth, who has a 16-21 career record and a 5.34 ERA in 91 major league appearances, was acquired from the Pirates on Saturday for cash. Royals starters are 7-33.