By MATT PIKE
Cole Ragans struck out 11 in six sharp innings and Nick Loftin had a career-high four RBI's as the Kansas City Royals found an offensive spark and routed the Los Angeles Angels 12-1 at Kauffman Stadium.
Ragans earned his first win, improving to 1-4 on the season, allowin one run on five hits. It was the 15th quality start this season for the Royals, who entered the day tied for second in the majors in that category. The left-hander had runners on second and third with one out in the second inning but got consecutive strikeouts to end it. The lone blemish for Ragans was a solo home run by Jo Adell in the fourth inning.
The Royals opened the scoring in the second inning as Salvador Perez hit a solo home run to lead off the inning. Later in the frame, with runners on the corners, an RBI single by Loftin pushed the Kansas City lead to 2-0 at the end of two innings.
The Royals tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third inning, another RBI coming from Perez to extend the lead with a run scoring single driving in Bobby Witt Jr after his leadoff double. Loftin added another run driving in Vinnie Pasquantino drawing a bases loaded walk to push the lead to 4-0. In the fourth inning, Adell led off with his solo home run to cut into the lead.
In the sixth inning another bases loaded walk drove in a run, this time Pasqantino drawing the walk that brought home Loftin. Michael Massey hit an RBI single, scoring Jac Caglianone, that sparked a three-run seventh inning for Kansas City. Loftin reached on a fielders choice, driving in Isaac Collins and Massey to extend the lead for the final two runs of the inning, leaving the Royals up 8-1 at the end of seven.
Kansas City continued to pile on the runs in the eighth, Loftin driving in two more runs with the bases loaded, scoring Perez and Caglianone on an RBI single. Trailing 10-1, the Angels sent former Royals utilityman Adam Frazier to the mound and Carter Jensen hit a two-run single, driving in Collins and Loftin, to cap a four-run inning and ending the scoring.
At the plate, Perez was 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI's. Loftin was 2-for-4 with four RBI's. Jensen, batting leadoff for the first time in his major league career, was 1-for-5 with two RBIs and a walk.
Kansas City will look for it's first series sweep of the year in the series final against Los Angeles on Sunday. Seth Lugo (1-1, 1.15 ERA, 28K's) faces Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.08 ERA, 31K's) for the Angels in the first Sunday night game at Kauffman Stadium since 2016. First pitch is at 6:20pm, pregame will begin at 5:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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