Did the Royals Finally Find It’s Groove With 3-Game Sweep Over Angels?

Going into the 2026 season, the Kansas City Royals had decent expectations. In a particularly open American League Central Division, the Royals had as good a shot as anybody in the division to win it. However, the season hasn’t started as well as they would have hoped. Going into the series against the Los Angeles Angels this past weekend, the Royals sat with one of the worst records in baseball at 8-17, coming off two straight sweeps by the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees and a series loss to the Baltimore Orioles at home. It was crucial for the Royals to find success in the weekend series against the Angels and it looks like they found it.

Have the Royals finally found their groove that will lead to success later on in the season, or was it just a fluke series? Let’s take a look.

The Angels haven’t been bad this season. You can remember that memorable series against the Yankees a few weeks ago, when Los Angeles’ offense went nuts and helped the team take two in the Bronx. However, going into Kansas City, the Angels lost four of the last six games. The question was, who needed a dominant series more?

Friday night, LHP Noah Cameron got the start and pitched great through the first six innings, only allowing four hits and zero runs. In the meantime, the Royals’ offense came alive in the fourth inning, scoring five of their six runs in the inning. In fact, the Royals had five hits, five runs and only one was left on base, which is a miracle in itself with the history of leaving players on base this season. Cameron got to the seventh inning but was replaced by RHP Nick Mears after giving up a run to the Angels. Mears then gave up two more runs in the next two at-bats and then walked the next batter. That led to LHP Daniel Lynch IV coming in and he finished up the inning with a swinging strikeout.

Lynch, who’s been a solid reliever for the Royals this season, helped stop the bleeding and RHP Lucas Erceg finished the job the rest of the night, leading to a 6-3 victory.

The Royals were in a spot that they haven’t been in pretty much all season. They had a shot to take the three-game series on Saturday night. The Royals’ ace LHP Cole Ragans came out dealing, striking out the side in the first inning. It was a precursor to what was going to happen the rest of the night. Ragans also had offensive run support, with the Royals scoring two runs in both the second and third innings. Despite giving up a homer to Jo Adell, Ragans didn’t lose his step, striking out his 10th batter in the inning. Ragans made it through six innings, allowing only five hits and one run with 11 total strikeouts.

Both offenses went cold from the fourth to the sixth inning, but the scoring drought was ended after a bases-loaded walk, scoring Nick Loftin. Now fast forward to the bottom of the seventh, where Kansas City scored three runs to make it 8-1 and the bleeding continued by the Angels. The Royals scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth and eventually won 12 to 1 over the Angels.

The Royals had just won their first series since the late March and early April series against the Minnesota Twins.

This game did not start very well for Kansas City. The Angels got after RHP Seth Lugo and took a 6-0 lead after two innings. Things were not looking good for the Royals.

Fast forward to the fourth inning. Bobby Witt Jr. resurrected the offense with a triple but was stranded on third base, which has been the story of the season so far. However, it provided some momentum as the Royals were able to score one run in the fifth and two in the sixth, thanks to Witt Jr’s first homer of the year, 6-3 Angels. Lugo was solid after getting blown up in the second inning; however, he gave up another in the seventh and was replaced by RHP Eli Morgan, who got out of the inning with no earned runs.

The Royals scored two more in the bottom of the seventh inning, making it 7-5 Angels. Now in the ninth inning, Kansas City gave up another run after a passed ball by catcher Carter Jensen, making it 8-5. The Royals needed three runs in the ninth and they got them, thanks to first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, designated hitter Salvador Perez and left fielder Jac Caglianone. It was 8-8 in the tenth and then the Royals gave up another run on another passed ball, making it 9-8 Angels.

Two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Jensen is on third and third baseman Maikel Garcia just won a long battle, leading to a walk. Right fielder Lane Thomas has a chance to at least extend the game.  It was a 3-1 count and Thomas drove a ball deep into left center field and hit a three-run walk-off homer to give the Royals the win, 11-9.