Jered Weaver outdueled Zack Greinke and Torii Hunter homered as the Los Angeles Angels escaped with a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Erick Aybar and Hideki Matsui each chipped in two hits for the Angels, who took three of four in the series and moved to 4-1 without slugger Kendry Morales.

Weaver improved to 5-2 and dropped his ERA to 2.74 while yielding four hits and one walk in seven scoreless frames. The right-hander struck out nine to improve his season total to 83 punchouts in 75 2/3 innings.

Greinke fell to 1-7 while allowing 10 hits and four runs in six innings. The reigning American League Cy Young award winner boasts a decent 3.60 ERA but can’t find his way into the win column because the Royals are averaging less than three runs per game in his starts and nearly two runs per game in his seven loses.

Los Angeles pushed across a run in the second on Kevin Fransden’s RBI single and upped the advantage to 3-0 in the fifth when Hunter reached Greinke for his ninth homer of the season.

Kansas City chipped away and pulled to within one run on Willie Bloomquist’s pinch-hit two-run homer in the ninth, but Brian Fuentes managed to retire the final two batters for the save.