|
 After all, it isn't often that Giavotella shows the pop possessed
by teammates such as Mike Trout and Albert Pujols.
For one night, anyway, it was Giavotella who flexed his muscles,
driving a fifth-inning pitch from Royals starter Edinson Volquez
over the fence in left field for a three-run homer and propelling
the Angels to a 9-4 win at Angel Stadium.
It was Giavotella's first extra-base hit of the season, as the
second baseman was struggling with a .136 average going into the
game. Giavotella, who is in his sixth major league season, collected
his ninth career homer. He hit a career-high four homers last year.
"It was a great feeling, something that we've been looking forward
to for a long time," Giavotella said of the homer. "Finding the
barrel and helping the team win."
Even more unlikely was that the home run came against Volquez, who
was off to a fast start, going 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA in four outings
before Tuesday. In fact, Volquez had allowed only four runs all
season until he gave up eight runs and 12 hits in five innings
against the Angels.
 "It was a weird night," Royals manager Ned Yost said of Volquez's
performance. "I thought he had good stuff, I thought he commanded
the ball fairly well, I thought his secondary stuff was good. But
you don't see 10 hits going into the fifth inning, and nine of them
on the ground. I mean, that's his goal -- he wants ground balls, and
they just kept finding holes. They weren't scorching the ball."
Giavotella, who had just six hits this season before Tuesday, also
singled and doubled, finishing 3-for-4.
The Angels had 14 hits in all, including four from Yunel Escobar and
two from C.J. Cron, who also walked twice. Eight of the nine
starters in the Angels' lineup had at least one hit.
It was the biggest offensive output all season for Los Angeles, the
club having scored more than five runs in a game only twice. The
Angels went into the game ranked last in the American League in
batting average, runs, RBIs and slugging percentage.
The beneficiary of the unexpected onslaught was Angels starter Jered
Weaver (3-0). He gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks in six
innings. Seven of the nine hits went for extra bases.
"It wasn't very good," Weaver said when asked to assess his
performance. "But the offense did a good job battling back and
forth. It was fun to watch."
Jarrod Dyson had two hits and two RBIs, Mike Moustakas homered, and
Salvador Perez had two hits for Kansas City.
"We couldn't get that timely hit," Yost said. "We had opportunities,
we just couldn't capitalize. That's what Weaver does, he changes
speeds so well, he keeps the ball down and made good pitches when he
needed to."
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The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Moustakas'
seventh home run of the year, the ball barely eluding the
outstretched glove of Trout in center field.
The Angels were poised to match that run in the bottom of the first
after Escobar and Rafael Ortega opened with consecutive singles.
Volquez struck out Trout for the first out. After Pujols worked a
nine-pitch walk to load the bases, Kole Calhoun swung at the first
pitch he saw and popped out for the second out. Andrelton Simmons
flied out to center to end the threat.
The Royals increased their lead to 2-0 in the second inning on a
two-out RBI double by Dyson.
The Angels loaded the bases with one out again in the second, but
this time they came through. Ortega drove in the first run with a
groundout, and Trout followed with a two-run single to put the
Angels up 3-2. Only a spectacular catch by left fielder Alex Gordon
on a drive by Pujols prevented the Angels from scoring more in the
inning.
The Royals regained the lead in the fourth on back-to-back RBI
doubles by Omar Infante and Dyson to go up 4-3. However, the Angels
rallied with a five-run fifth, the big blow coming on Giavotella's
three-run homer, putting the home team up 8-4.
NOTES: Royals 1B Eric Hosmer, who went 1-for-4 Tuesday, equaled his
career high with a 16-game hitting streak. He is hitting .333
(21-for-63) during the 16 games. He has reached base by hit or walk
in every game this season, the streak at 28 games extending back to
Sept. 27. ... Angels DH Albert Pujols began the night with four hits
in eight at-bats, including three homers. The recent surge follows
an 0-for-26 slump, the longest hitless stretch of his career. He
went 1-for-4 Tuesday. ... With seven outfield assists through
Monday, the Royals were tied for second in the majors. Houston had
eight. ... The Angels' 63 runs scored in their first 20 games of the
season was their lowest total since the American League implemented
the designated hitter rule in 1973.
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