After the heartbreaking loss on Opening Night, the KC Royals came back to take the next two games and the series from the host LA Angels.

Angels starter Ervin Santana struggled today with his fastball command and the Royals hitters took advantage of some pitches left out over the plate.

Eric Hosmer got the Royals scoring started with an RBI single in the first inning. Billy Butler followed with a two-run homerun.

Hosmer hit a two-run homerun of his own in the 5th inning. After looking pretty bad at the plate on Opening Night, Hosmer has looked really good in his next two games. In those games, he was 4-for-10 with five runs scored and four RBIs.

The Royals pitching wasn’t great but it got the job done. After a long bottom of the first and a long bottom of the third inning in which the Angels scored single runs, I didn’t think Royals starter Jonathan Sanchez would go much longer. However, he made it through five innings without allowing another run.

Lefty Jose Mijares followed with one inning of shutout relief (though he allowed a hit). Kelvin Herrera followed with 1.1 innings of relief. He allowed five hits and a solo homerun to Vernon Wells.

Aaron Crow finished off the Angels in the 8th inning, but for some reason, manager Ned Yost hasn’t learned that Crow isn’t good in his second inning of work. Crow allowed a leadoff single to Howie Kendrick in the 9th inning and walked Albert Pujols on four pitches nowhere near the strike zone. That was all for Crow.

In came closer Jonathan Broxton, who was slow and deliberate, but got the job done. He struck out the next three hitters to send the Royals off to Oakland with a 7-3 victory.

*The Angels went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. They had 11 hits.

**The Royals had ten hits, with Butler, Hosmer, Humberto Quintero, and Chris Getz collecting two hits each. They were 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

***Hopefully the offense picks up a little once the team begins their three-game road trip in Oakland on Monday night. Well, at least for Alex Gordon. He is still hitless on the 2012 season. Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain each have just one hit.