Meche got his first victory in four starts this season as the Royals struck early and hung on for a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels as 41,336 fans turned out on Wednesday night.

The Royals bullpen gave Meche three scoreless innings and the offense was just enough to survive some baserunning blunders.

"I was glad Gil got the 'W,'" manager Trey Hillman said. "He fought himself out there a little bit but he pitched well enough to win. We made some mistakes that we shouldn't have made tonight, but fortunately they didn't come back to bite us and the bullpen picked us up and did a very good job."

Joey Gathright got the Royals started with a bunt single, but then got picked off first base. Too bad because then came four singles -- by Mark Grudzielanek, Mark Teahen, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. Angels starter Jered Weaver cut things off at two runs, doubtless grateful that there weren't more.

With two outs in the second, Gathright singled, stole second and then sprinted home on Weaver's error. First baseman Casey Kotchman stole a hit from Grudzielanek but Weaver couldn't handle his flip at the bag.

"I make that play nine ... no, 10 times out of 10 times," Weaver said. "I was just looking at the bag a little too quick, and the ball tipped off my glove."

Meche had a 3-0 lead and, as it developed, that was enough. He faltered only after two outs in the fourth, giving up Garret Anderson's single, Torii Hunter's double and Kotchman's two-run single.

"I made a decent pitch. He just inside-outed it through the hole and got two RBIs," Meche said.

This was one of the seeds of his anger.

"The good thing is I got this win," Meche said. "I've been pitching with a lot of anger on the mound, which is totally not me. It's not my approach and I've just been getting really upset at little mistakes I've been making. Not making the put-away pitches when I need to and not getting out of that jam didn't help either."

He got angry, too, in the sixth inning when he issued two walks.

"That's pitching with anger. I started getting mad," he said. "I just need to relax. I haven't been myself out there so far and, luckily, this one went our way and I can relax now and enjoy my pitching the way I did last year. Just have fun."

It's, oh, so relaxing when the Royals' bullpen is on. And it usually is this season. When Meche finished his outing, Ramon Ramirez got two outs but gave up two singles. Enter Jimmy Gobble, the left-handed doctor, to tranquilize Anderson on a routine grounder.

Leo Nunez pitched a perfect eighth and Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth. Know what the combined ERA of Ramirez, Gobble, Nunez and Soria is this season? It's 0.00. None of them has given up a run yet.

"The bullpen keeps going. They do an unbelievable job. This isn't an easy lineup to face and they come in and shut them down the last three innings," Meche said.

Those mistakes that Hillman mentioned didn't hurt in the end, but he'll deal with them. In one overly aggressive instance, Gathright tried to steal third with two on and one out. He was thrown out and a promising inning faded.

Another instance came in the fifth inning when, with Grudzielanek at first and one out, Butler hit a popup over first base. Then he stopped running. Kotchman alertly let the ball drop, stepped on first to retire Butler and caught Grudzielanek in a rundown. Double play, inning over.

Afterward, Ross Gload kidded Butler about "grounding" into a double play.

"That's what it goes down as," Gload pointed out helpfully, "grounded into a double play."

At least, in the wake of victory, Butler could smile about his gaffe. He explained that with Kotchman and Grudzielanek and the pitcher and the second baseman all milling around first base under his pop fly that he didn't know quite where to run.

"But that's no excuse. You've got to get somewhere near first base," Butler said. "That's not acceptable."

With the Royals ranking first in American League pitching and defense but last in runs scored, Butler had another thought.

"Our pitching has carried us all year, up to this point," Butler said. "One of these days, offensively, we're going to have to win a game."