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Meche, Pena lead Royals past Angels

May 3, 2007 - 11:12 PM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals made it back-to-back wins for only the second time this season.

Gil Meche pitched seven strong innings and Tony Pena Jr. drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as the Royals posted a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the finale of a four-game series.

Ross Gload recorded his first career four-hit game and drove in two runs for the Royals, who won for just the seventh time in the last 30 meetings with the Angels.

"It's a good day," Gload said. "We won the game, that's the important thing. Meche pitched great. He works fast and gets outs. I got a couple of hits and I got lucky a couple of times. If I get hits to left, that's when I feel the best."

Kansas City last won back-to-back games this season against Detroit and Minnesota on April 18 and 20.

Meche (3-1) allowed two runs, two hits and a walk while striking out six. After allowing a two-run home run to Vladimir Guerrero in the first inning, the rigthhander retired 17 consecutive batters before Guerrero reached on a single in the seventh.

"I said in spring training, I want to be the guy to come over here and get this rotation going," Meche said. "It started with my first start and I've been on a good roll since. I've had one bad one against Detroit and bounced back.

"Guys have been stepping it up. We've had some real good starting pitching going on the last couple of weeks. If we can keep that going, our offense is coming through."

Meche, whose 2.23 ERA ranks third in the American League, has pitched at least seven innings in four of his seven starts.

"Meche had a feel for his changeup and his breaking balls," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He isn't throwing as hard, but sometimes that's a good thing. He certainly has a good fastball and when you combine it with the cutter and change, his velocity is good."

Brandon Duckworth pitched a perfect eighth and rookie Joakim Soria, who worked around a single and walk in the ninth to record his fifth save in as many chances.

The Angels, who completed a 4-3 road trip, managed just three hits in the game.

Meche's performance allowed the Royals to erase a 2-0 deficit and take the lead for good in the sixth inning.

Gload opened the inning with a single to right and promptly stole second base. Rookie Billy Butler's flyout to right moved Gload to third base. Hoping to induce an inning-ending double play, Angels starter Jered Weaver (1-3) intentionally walked rookie Alex Gordon.

After John Buck struck out for the second out of the inning, Pena delivered a line-drive single to left to put the Royals on top, 3-2. David DeJesus struck out to end the inning.

"My first two at-bats I was right on the ball," Pena said. "He was pitching me fastballs in and at the last second it was cutting and I was just missing it a little bit. I was concentrating on trying to go the other way and he gave me a breaking ball and I was able to put the bat on it."

Weaver, who began the season on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis, allowed three runs, seven hits and three walks while striking out nine in six innings.

"It was just one of those games," Weaver said. "Meche was in his rhythm. I tried my best to keep us in it. You've got to give it up to Meche, he kept us off balance."

Jered could have made a couple of better pitches, but he pitched well enough for us to win," Scioscia said. "As the game got close it was obvious he had to be finer and finer, and guys were pressing. When you aren't scoring runs the problems are magnified."

The Angels had a chance to draw even in the seventh when Guerrero reached second base with one out due to an error on a pickoff attempt at first base. However, Meche ended the threat by striking out Casey Kotchman and getting Erick Aybar to ground out.

"I probably should have been 3-for-3 and then dead," said Gload, who was holding Guerrero at first when the pickoff throw surprised him. "That ball missed my head about two or three inches. I was looking at Vlady's nice spikes at the time. I looked up and that ball was by me. I'm just lucky to be alive."

Kansas City padded its lead in the bottom of the frame with two runs off reliever Dustin Moseley. A two-out double by Gload scored Mark Teahan, who had walked earlier in the frame, and Gload came in to score on a single by Butler. It was the first career RBI for the Royals' outfielder.

After falling behind on Guerrero's ninth home run of the season, the Royals began to chip away at the lead in the second. Gload led off the inning with a triple to center field and scored later in the inning on Buck's sacrifice fly.

The Royals knotted the game at 2-2 in the fourth though squandering an opportunity to pull ahead.

Mike Sweeney led off with a double and scored the tying run on a single by Gload. Butler followed with the Royals' third consecutive hit, moving Gload to second. Both runners moved into scoring position on a sacrifice by Gordon. However, Weaver battled back to strike out both Buck and Pena to end the threat.

This was the Royals 10th win of the season. The team didn't reach that mark until May 14 last year, doing so in the 37th game of the season.