ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Ruben Gotay may be starting to put his tough start behind him.

Gotay had a career-high four hits and Brian Anderson worked into the seventh inning as the Kansas City Royals posted an 8-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the rubber game of a three-game series.

One of the Royals' top young players, the 22-year-old Gotay entered Sunday with just one hit in 10 at-bats this season. The second baseman also had a key error in Saturday's game that led to a five-run inning.

"It was my first four hit game, and I hope it's not my last one," Gotay said. "I just try to help the team anyway I can."

"It was good to see him put last night's game behind and come out here and play hard," Royals manager Tony Pena said.

Gotay singled in his first at-bat in this one against Bartolo Colon , then belted a two-run homer to cap a four-run uprising in the second, giving Kansas City a 5-0 lead. He doubled in the fourth and added a run-scoring single in the eighth, going 4-for-5 while also scoring twice.

"Colon is a good pitcher, but we just wanted to come out and be aggressive against him," Gotay said.

The lead was more than enough for Anderson (1-0), who gave up three three runs and five hits in six-plus innings in his season debut. The lefthander struck out five without a walk in beating the team he started his career with in 1993.

"I felt surprisingly very good with all the time off," Anderson said. "I started to feel good when I was warming up in the bullpen.

"My biggest concern today was my stamina, since I only threw seventy-two pitches eleven days ago. I felt like my ball had some late life and I kept the ball down."

Mike Sweeney went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Angel Berroa also had three hits and knocked in a run for the Royals, who completed a season-opening 3-3 road trip.

"Colon is one of the best arms in baseball, but we were able to get to him early which is good because he's tough to face when he gets settled in," Sweeney said.

Emil Brown added a solo homer for Kansas City, which banged out 17 hits, including one from each starter.

After pitching well in a season-opening win over Texas, Colon (1-1) was roughed up for six runs and 11 hits in six innings. The righthander walked two and struck out four.

"I just wasn't able to locate my pitches, and I left the ball up in zone which you can't do against any team," Colon said through an interpreter.

Vladimir Guerrero belted a two-run homer for the Angels, who completed a 3-3 homestand.

The Angels swept seven games from the Royals last season.