Royals’ bullpen yields four runs in ninth in 4-0 loss to Angels

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“We know Kotchman is hitting pretty good off of left-handed pitching,” Hillman said. “But he hasn’t faced Jimmy Gobble this year. He put a good swing on a decent pitch. It was down. It kind of dominoed from there.”

Peralta entered at that point and retired Torii Hunter, but Anderson yanked a 413-foot homer into the right-field bullpen for a 3-0 lead. Wood followed with a 381-foot shot to left.

Santana lowered his ERA to 2.02 by getting his second career complete game and second shutout. The other one was a 4-0 victory over the White Sox on May 23, 2005, at Angel Stadium.

Neither team got a runner past first until Mark Grudzielanek opened the fourth with a double into the left-field corner. He got no farther. Gordon flied to center before José Guillen and Teahen struck out.

“You’ve got to take advantage of opportunities,” Hillman said. “Alex didn’t get around on a ball that was left out over the plate. He hit it to center field and just didn’t pull it.

“That’s a mistake, unfortunately, we made. You hope you learn from it and do a better job of playing situational baseball and get a guy over when you do lead off with a double.”

The Royals never had another chance. They managed just two runners in the last five innings. Neither got as far as second.

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To reach Bob Dutton, Royals reporter for The Star, send email to bdutton@kcstar.com.