Kansas City Royals fall by 1 run at Angels after debuting a new home run celebration

A glint of silver shimmered in the Kansas City Royals’ dugout after MJ Melendez’s first-inning home run on Sunday afternoon at Angel Stadium. After rounding the bases, the right fielder slapped hands in the dugout as teammates placed something on his head.

This was new. And questions quickly buzzed across Twitter. Home run helmet? New celebration? The Bally Sports broadcast caught but a fleeting glimpse: a gleaming, curved head-piece with small spikes protruding from either side of a sharp crest.

Answers came after the game, a 4-3 L.A. Angels victory: The Royals’ hitting coaches, inspired by the movie “Gladiator,” cooked up the idea to order a special prop. Efforts to procure something suitable during spring training “didn’t work out,” Witt Jr. said, but the correct version was finally deployed during Sunday’s series finale in Southern California.

The helmet appeared to be a replica of one worn by Maximus, played by actor Russell Crowe in the Hollywood classic.

“That’s kind of our mentality,” Witt Jr. said. “Everyone against us.”

The prop saw use early. Melendez and Vinnie Pasquantino (and, later, Witt) each donned the helmet after blasting solo home runs Sunday afternoon. For a 5-17 Royals team seeking offensive firepower, it was an infusion of joy.

But the Angels countered in the sixth inning with back-to-back-to-back appearances of their kabuto — a Japanese samurai helmet they’ve been using to celebrate homers for several weeks. Taylor Ward, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit consecutive blasts off Royals starter Jordan Lyles.

After a shaky first inning — walking Ward, surrendering a double to the scorching Trout and serving Ohtani a sacrifice fly — Lyles settled down, blending curveballs and sweepers in a fastball-heavy diet for four innings. Through five, he’d allowed just one hit, and the Royals were sitting pretty with a one-run lead.

But the way of the samurai eventually prevailed. Ward turned on a pitch in the bottom of the sixth and sent a shot down the left-field line. Trout, a consistent masher of pitches low in the zone, drove one out past the glove of leaping Royals centerfielder Kyle Isbel

Then Ohtani parked what Lyles said he thought was a “plus” curveball into the right-field seats.

Unlike Saturday night, when the Royals rallied with five runs in the ninth to beat the Angels 11-8, there would be no Kansas City comeback this time.

“Just frustrating,” Lyles said. “Trying to pick up your team. Our record’s not where we wanted, and we had the chance to win the series today and I gave up three runs in the sixth.”

Witt draws Trout’s praise

Mike Trout’s face lit up the instant he was asked about Bobby Witt Jr.

In March, at a hotel in the midst of Team USA’s World Baseball Classic run, Witt was sitting with his family eating breakfast when team-captain Trout came over and struck up a conversation with Witt’s parents.

“Hey,” Witt remembered Trout saying, “I love the way your son plays.”

It was just another feather in Witt’s cap. The former second-overall pick by the Royals in 2019, Witt was the youngest member of Team USA during the WBC. On Sunday, Angels manager Phil Nevin called Witt “one of the best players I’ve seen in a long, long time coming up in this game.”

Trout nodded when asked if Witt reminded him of himself. The Angels superstar, like Witt, was once a highly touted prospect with pop and pep to match.

“With all the hype, and just watching him play — he gets it,” Trout said. “He plays hard. Has fun doing it. That’s all you can ask.”

Witt, in turn, called Trout a “really good dude” from his experience playing alongside the three-time MVP. The young Royals star said the serious, focused Trout is just that: serious and focused. Not fake, all real.

“He had all this hype, and he performed … that’s really showed and makes me want to drive and get better and better,” Witt said. “Because he gets better each year.”

Witt’s deep homer to left field in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game did not surprise Nevin.

“Even watching him grow and get better each day,” the Angels manager said, “is just really impressive.”

Early exit for Melendez

Melendez was pulled from Sunday’s game after feeling tightness in his lower back, Quatraro said.

The manager called the exit cautionary, and Melendez seemed to be moving well in the clubhouse after the game.