Cold streak continues for Angels in 2-0 loss to Royals

When the Angels last visited Kauffman Stadium, the fountains were icing over.

This time, their bats were, an 84-degree temperature for the first pitch Monday unable to provide any thaw in what would become a chilling 2-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals, who began the day with the worst record in baseball.

Playing a makeup game under conditions 66 degrees warmer than during their mid-April visit, the Angels managed three singles and advanced one runner beyond second base.

“It’s hard to win ballgames when we don’t have two or three guys swinging the bat well that day,” shortstop Andrelton Simmons said. “We gotta score more runs.”

The Angels were 13-3 back when their game against the Royals was postponed because of the brutal cold.

They are 28-35 since and ended Monday with the same 41-38 record as the Oakland Athletics, who no one consider serious threats to make the playoffs.

“It is a little frustrating,” Simmons said. “We know what we can do. We haven’t been playing up to those expectations.”

The Angels won 11 of their first 12 road games. They’ve won only 10 of 26 since.

Against the Royals, they squandered the latest strong start by Tyler Skaggs, who gave up one run in seven innings to drop his ERA to 2.69, among the top 10 in the American League.

“We have a lot of injuries right now,” said Skaggs, who was scratched from his previous start because of a tight hamstring. “Once we get all our guys back … the mojo will come back. Don’t worry about it.”

Mojo? The Angels’ offense Monday was a no-show. They went down 1-2-3 in the first inning. And the third. And the fifth. And the seventh.

They didn’t go down in order in any of the other innings. But they did go down meekly against a reeling opponent and a rookie.

The Royals entered Monday with losses in 11 of their previous 12 games and only three victories in June.

The Angels were facing a first-year pitcher making his fifth start and still looking for his first victory as a starter.

Still, they could muster nothing against Brad Keller. Simmons had a two-out infield single in the second and Mike Trout a two-out single in the sixth. That was it for hits against the right-hander.

Keller gifted the Angels two walks in the fourth. But Justin Upton hit into a double play to spoil the opportunity.

“Our guys were ready to play,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “On the offensive side, we just didn’t get it done.”

The Angels’ best chance came immediately after Keller was lifted and, fittingly, without a hit.

Instead, David Fletcher was struck by an 0-and-2 pitch from reliever Tim Hill. Fletcher, a rookie, then had his first career stolen base and advanced to third on Martin Maldonado’s groundout.

With the infield playing in and a chance to tie the score, Chris Young struck out. Ian Kinsler then grounded out.

The three at-bats after Fletcher’s steal were the only ones for the Angels with a runner in scoring position.

“In a game like this, you’re not going to hang your hat on just one situation,” Scioscia said. “We just didn’t do enough offensively.”

Skaggs performed nothing like a pitcher who was limited, yielding a few hard-hit balls early but little else throughout. He said his hamstring was not an issue.

“Beginning of the game, I was kind of all over the place,” Skaggs said. “By about the third or fourth inning, things started progressing. Toward the very end, I thought I was throwing the ball really well.”

In four June starts, he has given up two earned runs in 27 innings. That’s an ERA of 0.67, and only two starters in franchise history have had better months.

Unfortunately for the Angels, even the heat brought by Skaggs wasn’t enough to kill the chill.

jeff.miller@latimes.com