ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Eric Hosmer tied a season high with four hits, pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson scored the go-ahead run in the 13th inning on a throwing error by rookie reliever Mike Morin, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4 Saturday night.
Danny Valencia felt discomfort on two swings leading off the 13th and was checked out by manager Ned Yost and a trainer. After convincing them he was all right, Valencia lined a double off the fence in left-center, sliding into second headfirst.
Dyson went into run for him and scored when Morin (0-1) fielded Alcides Escobar’s sacrifice bunt and threw the ball past first base as Dyson came home. Nori Aoki hit an RBI single and Billy Butler capped the scoring with his second sacrifice fly.
Aaron Crow (2-1) pitched two innings for the victory and Greg Holland got three outs for the save, ending the 4-hour, 53-minute marathon.
The Royals tied it in the seventh when Hosmer scored on a double-play grounder by Salvador Perez with the bases loaded. The run was charged to Sean Burnett, who faced only one batter and gave up Hosmer’s leadoff single through the box. It was Burnett’s second appearance since his comeback from elbow surgery last August.
Royals right-hander James Shields pitched six innings, giving up four runs and nine hits, including solo homers by Mike Trout and Erick Aybar.
Angels rookie Matt Shoemaker was charged with three runs — two earned — and eight hits in five innings while striking out six. The right-hander was making his third start since he was inserted into the rotation on May 13.
The Angels were trailing 3-0 when Aybar got them on the board in the fourth inning with his third homer of the season, a line drive that just made it into the first row of seats in the right field corner after a leadoff double by Raul Ibanez.
Los Angeles pulled ahead 4-3 with two runs in the fifth. Trout led off with a towering drive into the rock pile beyond the fence in left-center, and Albert Pujols followed with another deep flyball that looked like it was going out as well.
Left fielder Alex Gordon leaped above the bullpen fence and got his glove on it before it bounced off his cap, shoulder, chin and arm — then landed in his glove while he was on the seat of his pants. Third base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled it a catch, but manager Mike Scioscia challenged the call and Pujols ended up with a double after a video review.
It was his 2,400th career hit for Pujols, who took third on a groundout and scored the go-ahead run on Shields’ wild pitch to Aybar.
A two-out error by Trout in center field led to an unearned run during Kansas City’s two-run third. Aoki and Hosmer opened the inning with singles, and Aoki scored on Butler’s first sacrifice fly. One out later, Perez hit a sinking liner that broke off Trout’s glove as he charged the ball on the dead run, and Lorenzo Cain hit an RBI single.
Escobar led off the Royals’ fourth by beating out a bunt single to third baseman David Freese — the team’s AL-leading 12th bunt hit and 49th infield hit. Escobar stole second as Pedro Ciriaco struck out, then swiped third with Aoki at the plate. Hosmer drove him in with a broken-bat single to make it 3-0, but Trout prevented another run when he robbed Butler of extra bases with a leaping catch against the 18-foot wall in right-center.
