The LA Angels get two strong outings in taking down Royals

The LA Angels have not won a series in three weeks until they finished off the Royals Sunday afternoon to take two out of three games from the 2015 World Champs.

Winning a series against the Kansas City Royals may not seem like much for the LA Angels being that the Royals have an even worse record than they do. However, the last time the Angels won a series my taxes were still not done as the Angels swept a three-game series from the Milwaukee Brewers April 8th-10th.  What is noteworthy about the series victory is that two key Angel starters, Tyler Skaggs and Matt Harvey both had strong outings to make it happen.

Matt Harvey and Tyler Skaggs are two-fifths of what the Angels had hoped to be a much stronger starting rotation in 2019.  Skaggs has been slowed by an ankle injury and Harvey has been a Jekyll and Hyde candidate at its finest.

Going into the weekend series against the Royals, Skaggs had a 4.20 ERA in three starts missing two weeks due to an ankle injury.  Harvey on the other had an 8.03 ERA and was winless with his new club. That all changed in Kansas City.

Halo Hangout’s Vincent Page alluded to the fact that the Angels needed a healthy and consistent Skaggs in 2019 in a tweet during Spring Training.

Skaggs started the series opener and was lights out for five innings as he held the Royals scoreless on three hits and struck out five batters helping the Angels gain a 5-1 victory.  After a disastrous outing by Jaime Barria on Saturday led to the Angels dropping the middle age of the series 9-4, it was Matt Harvey’s turn to shine.

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The veteran right-hander came out strong only allowing one hit in the first three innings allowing the Angels to take a 4-0 lead.  Harvey did give up a run in the fourth inning but that was all the Royals would get off of Harvey. Harvey ended up going seven innings which is the longest outing by an Angel starter this season.

Harvey allowed only two hits and one run walking three and striking out five Royals to earn his first victory in Angel red.  These two outings are the kind of performances the Angels have been hoping for from both Skaggs and Harvey.  This is only one series and the Angels need these outings on a more consistent basis.

With the addition of Griffin Canning to the rotation this week and the return of Andes Heaney and Nick Tropeano in the upcoming weeks the Angels rotation could become the backbone of a potential playoff run.  Hopefully things will start looking up for the Angels soon.