ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Kansas City Royals would have preferred to face the Anaheim lineup that won the World Series championship than the bunch of rookies that outplayed them in a doubleheader sweep.
Adam Kennedy homered and drove in three runs, and Kevin Gregg got his first major league victory as the injury-depleted Angels completed Saturday night's sweep with a 3-1 victory.
In the first game, pinch-hitter Jeff DaVanon hit a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning and rookie Robb Quinlan also had a two-run single to rally Anaheim to a 6-5 win. Troy Percival got the save in both games.
"Most of the time, that's what you see when you throw a lot of players from Triple-A out on the field against a ballclub that's in a pennant race," Royals manager Tony Pena said.
"I'd rather see their regular lineup instead of those kids that come from the minor leagues, because they are playing with their full energy and they want to show everybody they can play. And that's exactly what we saw tonight."
Kansas City's two losses, coupled with victories by Minnesota and Chicago, dropped the Royals three games behind the Twins and White Sox in the AL Central.
"We will bounce back," Pena said. "There's no way that we're going to quit. There's no way that we're going to go away. We will come back. There's plenty of games left."
Gregg (1-0) allowed a run and four hits over seven innings in his second career start, striking out four and walking one. The 25-year-old right-hander made his big league debut on Aug. 9 at Cleveland, allowing a run and four hits over six innings and getting a no-decision in the opener of a doubleheader.
"I can't explain it. It's a crazy feeling," Gregg said. "You're always excited when you do that well, but I always expect myself to compete. I faced a lot of those guys in the minor leagues, so I had an idea of how to pitch to some of them. So it wasn't that intimidating for me."
Brendan Donnelly pitched a perfect ninth and Percival got three outs for his 31st save in 34 chances. It's the sixth straight season that the Angels' career saves leader has had at least 30.
The Royals got the jump on the Angels in the first inning of the nightcap with a leadoff double by Aaron Guiel and a triple by Desi Relaford. But they were held hitless after Ken Harvey's two-out single in the fourth.
The Angels tied it in the bottom half on Chone Figgins' triple and Kennedy's infield hit. The Angels took the lead for good in the third when Tom Gregorio singled to left for his first major league hit and Kennedy homered to right with two outs.
Jamey Wright (0-1) made his first AL start after stints with Colorado, Milwaukee and St. Louis, allowing three runs and six hits while striking out five. It was his first complete game of the season and fifth of his career.
The 28-year-old right-hander spent this season pitching at the Triple-A Level for three different organizations -- including the Royals' Omaha farm club -- before his contract was purchased on Thursday.
"I was very impressed by the way that he threw the ball," Pena said. "He was in control. He had good command of his all of his pitches. But we didn't support him."
Anaheim's winning rally in the opener started with Jose Molina's two-out blooper. Wilson Delgado followed with a single that chased starter Darrell May, and Figgins greeted Jason Grimsley (2-5) with an RBI double inside first base to slice the Royals' lead to 5-4.
DaVanon slashed a 1-2 pitch through the left side of the infield to score Delgado and Figgins. DaVanon is 6-for-14 as a pinch-hitter this season.
"It's hard to lose a couple of ballgames the way those two were lost," Grimsley said. "The beautiful thing about it is that we've got 22 games left. We're going to strap it on every day and come at you and let the cards fall where they may."
Ben Weber (5-1) pitched two innings of relief, allowing a run and five hits. Scott Shields gave up four runs and seven hits over five innings, including Carlos Beltran's 22nd homer with a runner on in the third.
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