• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Meche shuts down Angels as Royals win third straight

Jun 27, 2007 - 6:23 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Gil Meche and the Kansas City Royals accomplished something few teams have recently - beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at home.

Meche threw six solid innings and the Royals used three home runs to cruise to a 12-4 victory over the Angels on Tuesday.

Meche (5-6) yielded three runs and seven hits over six innings with six strikeouts, and rookies Billy Butler and Alex Gordon homered as the Royals handed the Angels just their fifth loss in their last 23 home games.

The 29-year-old Meche also beat the Angels on May 3 by limiting them to two runs and two hits over seven innings. The righthander threw 61 of 95 pitches for strikes and walked just one to win for just the second time in 10 starts and improve to 7-2 lifetime against the Angels.

"I don't know why but it's just one of those things when you pitch good against a team and bad against others," Meche said. "I did face them a lot when I was in Seattle so I am familiar with their hitters."

Meche bounced back after going 0-5 with a 5.76 ERA in his last five starts, but said there was room for improvement.

"I didn't think I had my best stuff tonight to pull off the win," Meche said. "I'm still waiting for my arm to come around and get stronger so I can go deeper into games."

Angels manager Mike Scioscia was not surprised his team finally faltered at home after being so dominant here for most of the season.

"It's baseball and we know that we can't win every series and every game at home," Scioscia said.

Butler hit his first career home run in the fourth and Gordon added a three-run shot in the eighth, driving in a career-high four runs as Kansas City won three straight for the first time since May 16-18.

"I'm glad I hit it and got it past me," Butler said. "Now I just hope more come for me. I just try to help the team win in any way and help contribute."

With the scored tied at 1-1 in the fifth, Joey Gathwright led off the frame with a double to left. After Angels starter Ervin Santana (5-8) hit David DeJesus, Gathwright scored when third baseman Chone Figgins committed a throwing error on a sacrifice attempt by Esteban German.

Mark Teahen followed with a double to to right that plated DeJesus, and German scored when Santana uncorked a wild pitch, making the score 4-1. Gordon then drove in a run with a single to left.

"It was just one of those games where we weren't as sharp as we like to be with the gloves," Figgins said.

It marked the second straight rough home outing for Santana, who surrendered seven runs - six earned - and nine hits in five frames. Santana also was touched up for four runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings against Houston last Wednesday.

"I made a lot of bad pitches (in the fifth) inning, and we just didn't play defense the way we know how," Santana said. "We just have to come out here tomorrow and try to steal a win in the series."

Anaheim, which entered the game with the best home mark in baseball, pulled within 5-3 in the sixth thanks to an RBI groundout by Casey Kotchman.

However, John Buck hit his 14th homer of the season and DeJesus added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to put the game away at 7-2.