KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Samad Taylor hit a walk-off single in his MLB debut and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-9 on Saturday to snap a 10-game losing streak.
“God put me in the right position and I came through,” Taylor said. “They were throwing a lot of breaking balls early. I may have seen four fastballs all day. So I went in there sitting breaking ball. He hung a change-up and I put a good swing on it and we won the game.”
Samad Taylor hits a walk-off single in his first career at bat to give the Royals a 10-9 victory over the Angels
Aroldis Chapman (2-2) earned the win in relief. Chris Devenski (3-1) took the loss.
Taylor’s hit was not his only impressive plate appearance. He also collected two walks as the Royals climbed back from an 8-2 deficit entering the bottom of the seventh.
“It was impressive for a lot of reasons,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “The emotions he was able to keep under control, with a couple of walks in big spots. For him to be able to keep it under control is tremendous.
‘It showed patience, but also controlling (himself). I can only imagine the feeling and excitement.”
Los Angeles wasted a great start by Griffin Canning, who allowed two runs on three hits in six innings. The Angels were up 8-2 in the seventh inning before the Royals came back.
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Angels’ Brandon Drury and Taylor Ward knock solo home runs in the second inning to take the lead against the Royals
Brandon Drury stroked two home runs and drove in three runs and Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 23rd home run to build the lead for Los Angeles.
Angels’ Shohei Ohtani tallies his 150th career home run after a solo dinger against the Royals
Kansas City scored three runs in the seventh off Kolton Ingram, who was also making his major-league debut. He allowed two hits and two walks in 1/3 inning. The Royals got three more off José Soriano in the eighth. Nick Pratto had an RBI single. Bobby Witt Jr. drove in two with a single.
The Royals went 6 for 10 with runners in scoring position — all from the seventh inning on — going 10 for 69 with runners in scoring position during the 10-game losing streak.
Tied at 8-8 in the ninth, Mike Trout hit a single to drive in Andrew Velazquez, who led off the inning with a walk before stealing second and third.
But the Royals answered as Edward Olivares led off with a single. Pinch-runner Dairon Blanco stole second and went to third on a throwing error.
Blanco scored on a single by Maikel Garcia. Garcia stole second and went to third on a bunt by Nicky Lopez. And then Taylor launched one over the head of Trout in center to win the game.
“It’s awesome,” said Witt, who had a pair of two-RBI hits in the seventh and eighth innings. “It’s incredible how (Taylor) carried himself the whole game, and then in that moment. It’s crazy how baseball works like that sometimes.”
Mike Mayers gave up six runs on seven hits in five-plus innings for Kansas City.
Drury’s home runs came in the second and sixth innings. Ohtani’s 437-foot home run to dead center came in the seventh.
Taylor Ward also homered for the Angels in the second inning.
The Royals tied the game 2-2 in the fourth when Salvador Perez reached on an infield single and MJ Melendez hit a 420-foot home run to right center.
MJ Melendez smashes a two-run homer, bringing the Royals to a tie with the Angels
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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