Royals complete three-game sweep
Kansas City gets to C.J. Wilson and sweeps series. Dugouts empty after exchange involving Trout.
Kansas City gets to Wilson; Trout is involved in heated exchange.
C.J. Wilson wanted to make sure the proper perspective was taken on his first two performances with the Angels.
The left-hander wasn’t the same dominating pitcher Sunday that he was in his season debut, but just because Wilson was victimized for seven runs and nine hits in a 9-2 loss to Kansas City doesn’t mean he’ll be ineffective when he pitches again.
Wilson knows the highs and lows of a 162-game season, knows his eight shutout innings last week in a victory against the Seattle Mariners only signified that he would be taking the mound again.
The loss to the Royals on Sunday at Angel Stadium in which Wilson lasted just 5 ⁄ innings only reinforced that he has to be ready for his next outing in hopes of better results.
“I get a game in five more days,” Wilson said. “I’ve just got to get ready for that. I’m not going to face the Royals next time. I’m going to face the Astros, so I’ve got to get prepared for those guys.”
Mike Trout had to protect himself in the sixth inning after a heated exchange with Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura behind home plate that emptied both dugouts and had the bullpens racing onto the field.
Trout had raced around from first base on Albert Pujols’ double and slid home safely.
Ventura was standing behind the plate, backing up catcher Salvador Perez on the play. Ventura said something to Trout after his hit went by the pitcher for a single and again when Trout was behind the plate.
“I got a base hit and I got to first base and he was staring at me,” Trout said. “I didn’t think I did anything wrong. When I touched home plate, I told [teammate Matt] Joyce, ‘Let’s go,’ and then [Ventura] got in my face. I’m just trying to play my game. I’m not trying to get into fights.”
Wilson, who was given a 1-0 lead on a first-inning home run by Pujols, had four strikeouts, an intentional walk and one wild pitch and hit a batter while throwing 94 pitches, 57 for strikes.
Wilson was done in by four runs on four hits — and an error on third baseman David Freese — in the second that put the Angels in a 4-1 deficit.
“I probably made a couple of strategic errors and a couple of execution errors,” Wilson said. “The way that they’re playing right now, it just turned into a lot of hits.”
The 6-0 Royals swept the threegame series and have defeated the Angels six consecutive times dating to an American League division series last October.
“Obviously we were really fired up to try to salvage up a win out of this series, and we weren’t able to do it,” Wilson said. “Albert got us off to a good start and then I just wasn’t able to put some of the guys away when I had count advantages on them.”