NOLAN SCHANUEL was 2-for-4 with four runs batted in for the Angels on Friday night in Anaheim. The Angels lost 7-6 to the Kansas City Royals and tumbled back into fifth place in the American League West (Angels photo).

By Pete Zarustica
Orange County Tribune

It was fun while it lasted. It was disappointing when it ended.

The Los Angeles Angels, who spent much of the 2026 season as the bottom team in the American League West division, put together a nice little three-game winning streak while the team above them – the Athletics – lost three in a row.

That allowed the Anaheim team to leapfrog the A’s into fourth place by a half-game. That brief respite from the cellar ended on Friday night when the Angels lost 7-6 to the Kansas City Royals.

Combined with the Athletics’ 8-3 win over the Texas Rangers and the Angels were back on the bottom again, by a half-game.

After falling behind early 3-0 to the Royals, the Angels rallied with four runs in the bottom of the third, sparked by a line drive double to right field by Nolan Schanuel that drove in three runs, and an RBI single by Zach Neto.
KC regained the lead with two runs in the fifth, but the Halos countered with single runs in the fifth and sixth, the latter being on a solo home run by Josh Lowe.

The Royals retook the lead in the top of the seventh with run-scoring singles by Joe Caglianone and Michael Massey, aided by an Angel throwing error.

Each team had 10 hits. Schanuel was 2-for-4 with four RBI’s and Tyler Heineman was 2-for-2 with two runs scored for the Angels.

Starter Grayson Rodriguez had a rocky outing, giving up three hits and three runs in four innings which pushed his ERA to 7.17.

The two teams will go at it again on Saturday in Anaheim with Reid Detmers (3-8) making the start for the home team.