Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson shelled in 13-9 loss to Royals

TEMPE, Ariz. — C.J. Wilson was rocked for eight runs — six earned — and eight hits, including two home runs, in 2 2/3 innings of a 13-9 exhibition loss to the Kansas City Royals in Tempe Diablo Stadium on Friday. The Royals improved to 19-6-1 this spring; the Angels fell to 6-15-4.

The Royals scored seven of those runs off Wilson in the third, which featured Salvador Perez’s two-run single, Eric Hosmer’s two-run homer to center and Jeff Francoeur’s prodigious solo shot to center, which sailed over the 30-foot-high batter’s eye, which is 420 feet from home plate.

“I tried to get ahead with a strike,” Wilson said of the pitch to Francoeur. “That was a bad idea. That’s the farthest home run I’ve given up in a couple of years.”

Joked Francoeur, a former Texas teammate of Wilson’s, “Yeah, I got jammed.”

Though a strong breeze to center aided Francoeur’s shot, by no means was it a cheapie. The ball probably traveled about 470 feet.

“In spring training, you have to take everything with a grain of salt,” Wilson said. “The infields are a little bit harder, the ball travels really well, the adrenaline isn’t quite there, so sometimes some funny things happen, where you have some big innings. That’s my first big inning of the spring. I look at it as part of the process.”

Wilson had a feeling it might be a long day when he needed 12 pitches to strike out Alex Gordon, the first batter of the game.

“It was like, foul ball, foul ball, foul ball, and I was like, ‘Really?’ ” Wilson said. “It was comedic at one point. I was making jokes with the second-base umpire, so that next time he thinks I’m a cool guy. I was like, ‘What do you want me to throw him?’ ”

The Angels had staked Wilson to a 7-1 lead with two runs in the first and five in the second. Mike Trout doubled to deep center and scored on Mark Trumbo’s double in the first.

Trout followed singles by Vernon Wells and Chris Iannetta with another long double to center, this one driving in two runs, in the second. Albert Pujols walked and scored from first on Josh Hamilton’s two-run triple to left-center, and Trumbo hit an RBI single to right.

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