Kansas City, Mo. ? Reaching .500 isn’t a mark an organization like the Los Angeles Angels often strives for.

After the start they had to the season, it’s a nice step that they hope will keep going in the right direction.

Jered Weaver outpitched Zack Greinke in seven scoreless innings, and Torii Hunter homered for the second straight game, helping the Los Angeles Angels reach .500 for the first time in over a month with a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

“It’s like your report card,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’ve been kind of swimming upstream for a while, working very, very hard. It’s certainly not where we want to end up — we think we’re a better team than .500 — but we’re going to keep playing hard and that record will let you know how you’re doing like a report card.”

Weaver (5-2) did his part, pitching well for the fourth straight start and getting a win out of it, his first since May 7. The offense helped him for once, knocking around Greinke (1-7) and finishing with 12 hits — the big blow Hunter’s two-run homer in the fifth — after getting 14 the night before.

The bullpen, well, it had some issues.

The Royals scored two runs off Kevin Jepsen in the eighth inning and pinch-hitter Willie Bloomquist hit a two-run homer off Brian Fuentes in the ninth to cut the lead to 5-4. Fuentes managed to close it out after that, getting his seventh save in 10 chances.