Griffin Canning continues solid work as Angels sweep Royals

ANAHEIM — The Angels pitching continues to lead their turnaround.

Griffin Canning gave up one run in his best game of the season as the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep.

Over the past 13 games, they have a 3.32 ERA, which has helped them improve to 30-32.

“I think they’re gaining more confidence in what they’re doing,” Manager Joe Maddon said before Wednesday’s game. “The defense has definitely been playing better, and that always leads to better pitching.”

Canning has also been consistently solid over more than a month now, with a 3.86 ERA over his last seven starts. That improvement coincides with changing his delivery to bring his hands over his head in the windup.

In this game he was effective and efficient, so he got his first seventh-inning outs of the season.

One of his biggest issues this year has been the first inning. He had allowed 10 runs in nine first innings, and it looked like he was headed for early trouble again on Wednesday.

Canning walked two in the first inning to dig himself into a bases-loaded jam, but he was able to escape damage because of a pair of strikeouts around one of the walks. He got Hunter Dozier on a groundout to leave the bases loaded.

After that, he sailed through the next two innings on just 17 pitches before getting into another tight spot in the fourth.

The Royals scored a run on a pair of infield hits and a double, but Canning painted the bottom of the zone with a fastball to strike out Michael A. Taylor and then he got Nicky Lopez on a groundout to preserve a 2-1 lead.

Canning then bounced back with two more perfect innings on 24 pitches. He retired 10 in a row before he was pulled after a two-out single in the seventh, ending his night with 89 pitches.

Mike Mayers retired the four batters he faced, continuing his resurgence. He’s retired all 10 hitters he’s faced in three games since tweaking his mechanics.

Closer Raisel Iglesias, who had not pitched since Friday, worked the ninth.

At the plate, the Angels took an early lead on Anthony Rendon’s two-out, two-run double in the third.

They broke the game open in the sixth, with three more runs.

Jared Walsh walked and Max Stassi singled, and then José Iglesias drove in one with a one-out double. Kean Wong dropped a single into center to knock in two more, giving the Angels a 5-1 lead.

More to come on this story.

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