KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Make that three straight flops for the Los Angeles Angels' bullpen, and three consecutive wins for the Kansas City Royals in their last at-bat.
This time, on a windy Sunday afternoon, the Angels also wasted five home runs — the most they'd hit in a game in almost two years.
Fernando Rodney gave up two runs in the ninth, allowing Kansas City to tie it at 9. Then, Jason Bulger served up Matt Treanor's three-run homer with two outs in the 13th, lifting the Royals to a 12-9 win and giving them three victories in the four-game series.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia was trying to look at the big picture.
"We're only four games into this," he said. "We definitely want to balance with guys getting their feet on the ground and performance because every game obviously is important. We need to get some chemistry down there in the 'pen. We're searching. Some guys that we need to throw the ball well that are important to us are not throwing the ball well, so we're going to have to take a look at that."
Even in their lone victory in the series, on opening day, the Angels' bullpen looked shaky.
"We need to get some of our guys pitching better than they are," Scioscia said. "It's not going to be as simple as saying we want this guy in this role, this guy in that role. There's a lot we have to look at and a lot we have to give enough time to play out because it's important to us."
Diminutive rookie Tim Collins (1-0) threw three innings of two-hit relief and got his first major league victory, striking out five.
The Royals hit three home runs and the Angels five, including two by Howie Kendrick.
Treanor, who came over from Texas in the last week of spring training, drove a breaking ball from Jason Bulger (0-1), the eighth Angels pitcher, to left-center. All three runs were unearned because the first batter of the inning reached base on Bulger's error trying to cover first base.
"We saw the ball flying a bit today," Treanor said. "It's good for us that ours was the last one hit. It was a battle, really."
The five home runs were the most for Los Angeles since June 13, 2009. Maicer Izturis, Bobby Abreu and Alberto Callaspo also connected for the Angels, who slugged their way out of a 5-0 hole only to see their bullpen falter for the third day in a row. Abreu finished with five hits.
"We drove the ball well. It's tough to blame anything that happened today on the offense," Scioscia said. "We scored nine, but you know we had the opportunity to score more. We were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. That being said, the guys did a good job being down 5-0 and keep battling."
Kansas City tied it with two runs in the ninth off Rodney, who started the inning and walked the bases full. With one out, Wilson Betemit doubled just in front of a sliding Vernon Wells in left-center, tying it at 9.
"It was an obvious release point issue," Scioscia said. "His mechanics were all over the place. I don't think he repeated the same mechanics on any one pitch."
Kevin Jepsen, shaky in his two other appearances in the series, walked Alcides Escobar but got Treanor to ground into a force at the plate and Mike Aviles to ground into a force at third.
Chris Getz hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Mark Trumbo leading off the 13th, but Bulger was charged with the game's first error for not getting his foot on the bag to take Trumbo's throw.
With two on, Treanor connected for the 59th game-ending homer in Royals history.
Izturis' RBI double off Robinson Tejeda in the eighth broke a 7-all tie. Callaspo added a solo home run in the ninth off Jeremy Jeffress, who was making his Royals debut.
Kendrick, with his third career multihomer game, went deep in the third and fifth. His next time up in the seventh he bunted safely and scored on Abreu's two-run shot that put the Angels on top 7-6.
Michael Kohn, who gave up Kila Ka'aihue's game-winning home run Friday night, relieved Hisanori Takahashi with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and on his first pitch gave up an RBI double to Jeff Francoeur that tied it 7-all.
Abreu had his third five-hit game. Alex Gordon had four hits and scored four runs for the Royals.
It was a brutal start for Scott Kazmir, whose 15 losses last year were the second-highest total in the majors. In 1 2-3 innings, the Angels left-hander gave up five hits and five runs, hit two batters with pitches, committed a balk, issued two walks and allowed Cabrera's solo home run.
"I never really found a rhythm," Kazmir said. "There's a lot of things I'm working on. I think it's just a poor game."
In the first three games of this series, Angels starters Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana had allowed only four earned runs in 20 innings while the bullpen failed twice to hold leads.
NOTES: Angels OF Torii Hunter tried to call the woman who was hit in the face Thursday when his bat shattered and flew into the stands. Sue Cooney, who sustained serious injuries to the right side of her face, was not able to come to the phone but Hunter asked her brother to pass along his wish that she have a speedy recovery. ... INF Erick Aybar was a late scratch for the Angels with tightness on his left side. He was replaced by Callaspo in the lineup. ... Abreu was doubled off first in the third inning after Wells flied out to shallow center.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.