ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Los Angeles Angels were shut out by the Kansas Royals 3-0 to close out what’s been a fairly successful home stand with a loss, but things could have been so much worse.
The Angels had just two baserunners the entire game with one walk and one hit. Royals starter Noah Cameron was carving the Angels up and was perfect through five innings before walking Oswald Peraza to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning.
Still, Cameron held the Angels, who have the longest active streak in baseball of not being no-hit at 4,256 games, hitless for another 1.1 innings after walking Peraza before Vaughn Grissom finally blooped a single over the head of Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop with one out in the bottom of the seventh to spoil the no-hit bid.
Vaughn Grissom drops in a bloop single into shallow left-center and the Angels get their first hit with one out in the seventh. pic.twitter.com/9ajBDOAmIZ
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) August 16, 2026
Cameron stayed in the game and finished with a complete game shut out, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out eight.
Progress from Ryan Johnson
Ryan Johnson was on the mound for the Angels and while he didn’t have anywhere near the kind of game that Cameron had, Johnson still showed that he’s continuing to improve.
He went 5.1 innings while allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four. The two runs Johnson allowed both came courtesy of solo home runs, but things could have gone seriously south for Johnson if not for Grissom.
William Navarro-Imagn Images
Angels coaching staff and infielders huddle at the mound to make a pitching change in the top of the sixth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium.
The worst trouble that Johnson faced was in the second inning when he gave up two hits and a walk to start the inning with the bases loaded and no outs.
Isaac Collins came up next and laced a hard ground ball toward first base where Grissom, who was filling in at first while Nolan Schanuel had the day off, made a diving, run-saving stop, hit first base and fired home to Travis d’Arnaud to tag out the lead runner for a double play.
Nice play from Vaughn Grissom, who is filling at first base for Nolan Schanuel. Schanuel just getting a day off despite being on a hot streak. Helped Ryan Johnson get out of a bases loaded jam. pic.twitter.com/JRGeS3Y0gc
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) August 16, 2026
“It was a big play. Huge play by Gris [Grissom]. Heads up play by Gris,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Didn’t panic. Knew exactly what he needed to do after making that play. Definitely a good play from him [and] a good tag by Trav [d’Arnaud].”
With some of the pressure off, Johnson forced the next batter to fly out harmlessly and escaped the bases loaded jam without allowing a single run.
Going deeper
Pitching into the sixth inning is progress for Johnson, who had gone five innings-or-less in his previous eight starts, but Johnson is still yet to get over the six inning hump and and has gone past the fifth inning just once.
one Big Meck please 🍔 pic.twitter.com/VbDUxBrTBo
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) August 16, 2026
Going deeper into games will be Johnson’s big goal for the remainder of the season and Sunday’s game, while not quite there, can still be a building block toward that goal.
“Just be efficient,” Johnson said of what he needs to do to go deeper in games. “[I] just keep running into random 3-0 counts just out of nowhere, and then I’m working behind and I’ve just got to be more efficient there.”
The Angels finished their home stand against the Royals and Texas Rangers a combined 4-3 and now they hit the road for a six game road trip against the Houston Astros and Rangers again starting Tuesday, Aug. 18.
