"The Angels clubhouse was alive with hoots and hollers late Wednesday afternoon as the television showed a top 10 countdown of baseball fights over the years. Appropriately enough, the Angels are beginning to show some fight themselves.

Since being swept by the lowly Baltimore Orioles last week, leaving them reeling and 10 games out of first place, the Angels have now won five of six, including a 2-1, 10-inning victory over the Kansas City Royals that completed a three-game sweep.

Bobby Abreu slammed a changeup from Royals reliever Jesse Chavez into the right-field seats with one out in the 10th, sending the Angel Stadium crowd of 39,093 into late afternoon traffic with smiles on their faces.

The Angels jumped with joy as Abreu circled the bases, but shortstop Erick Aybar played traffic cop and shooed away anyone who came near the plate, the psychological damage from Kendry Morales' season-ending broken leg still evident.

"We got rules," Abreu said, referring to the injury Morales suffered when jumping onto the plate after his winning home run May 29.

Abreu had two hits from the leadoff spot and Maicer Izturis had three hits, but this one was all about pitching as Angels starter Jered Weaver once again found himself going up against the opposing team's ace in Zack Greinke.

Weaver has also been matched up against Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, Cliff Lee, David Price, Chris Carpenter, Jake Peavy, Trevor Cahill and John Lackey this season.

And Wednesday, facing Greinke for the second time, Weaver was up to the task.

He completed eight innings for the first time this season, throwing a career-high 121 pitches, and struck out 11, increasing his major league-leading total to 182.

"We knew they are an aggressive club so early in the count we wanted to change speeds, and me and Matty (catcher Jeff Mathis) got into a little rhythm," said Weaver, who lowered his ERA to 2.87. "I was trying to change speeds with my fastball, take something off it, and use my changeup and curveballs. Keep 'em off balance for the most part." "