ANAHEIM -- With the Angels coming off a series that saw them play five games in four days in Seattle, they were looking to get some length from right-hander Noah Syndergaard in the series opener on Monday.

Syndergaard did just that, as he went 7 1/3 innings, but he gave up five runs and the Angels couldn't get much going offensively in a 6-2 loss at Angel Stadium that snapped a three-game winning streak. Syndergaard gave up a go-ahead RBI double to Nicky Lopez with two outs in the seventh before allowing a two-run homer to Salvador Perez on his 91st pitch that knocked him out of the game with one out in the eighth.

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“I think everybody understands what our bullpen went through this weekend, so for him to get into the eighth the way he did, it was gutsy,” said interim manager Phil Nevin. “It really was. A veteran guy understanding what was going on and what we did this weekend."

Nevin had Syndergaard come back out for the eighth after giving up the go-ahead hit in the seventh, as Syndergaard was at 82 pitches and Nevin wanted to protect the bullpen. But the decision didn’t work out, as Syndergaard gave up a leadoff single to Andrew Benintendi, who promptly swiped second base for the Royals’ third steal against the righty, before giving up the homer to Perez on a 1-0 changeup.

"He was at 81 [pitches] and he pushed and wanted it,” Nevin said. “We were down one and we were still in it. He was throwing the ball great. The run he gave up in the [seventh] was a soft-contact hit, and then we all know he has a high leg kick and they steal a base and then they hit a first-pitch curveball just over the reach of [Jared] Walsh."

Syndergaard, who gave up eight hits, walked two and struck out five, fell to 4-6 with a 3.86 ERA in 11 starts this season. He had his usual velocity, as his fastball was right in line with his season average of 94.1 mph, but he's still having trouble getting swings and misses and putting away hitters. He registered eight whiffs, including four with his changeup, three with his fastball and one with his curveball.

He has 40 strikeouts in 58 1/3 innings this year, which is down from his peak, when he struck out 775 batters in 716 innings with the Mets from 2015-19 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. But Syndergaard believes his stuff is continuing to get better with each outing.

“I was able to save the bullpen a little bit, and I felt like it was an improvement over my start against the Dodgers,” Syndergaard said. “I feel like I was cruising for the most part and I made it to the eighth, but when you look at my final line, it was just kind of whatever. But it was a step in the right direction.”

The outing didn't start well for Syndergaard, as he gave up a leadoff single to Whit Merrifield before serving up a two-run homer to Benintendi that put the Angels in a 2-0 hole just four pitches into the game. Syndergaard settled down from there, as he didn't run into much trouble other than in the fourth, when he gave up a single to Perez and walked MJ Melendez to open the inning. Helping out Syndergaard was a caught stealing on a pitchout to catcher Kurt Suzuki, which was the first time an opposing runner was caught stealing with Syndergaard on the mound since 2019.

"Benintendi just jumped on him with that first pitch after a ball that wasn't hit hard to hit the game and that was it,” Nevin said. “He pitched out of some trouble here and there. The caught stealing on a pitchout was a great call and helped him get out of the third."

It was a stolen base that hurt him in the seventh, however, as Syndergaard surrendered a leadoff single to Hunter Dozier, who stole second base and later scored on a two-out double from Lopez, the No. 9 hitter.

But it was the Angels' offense that scuffled yet again, as Taylor Ward's solo homer and RBI single accounted for the only two runs off lefty Kris Bubic, who entered with an 8.36 ERA but struck out seven over six innings. The Angels' .590 OPS in June is the worst mark in the Majors.

"Truth be told, we just needed to score more runs tonight and we didn't do that,” Nevin said. “For Noah, to pitch that deep and protect his teammates down in the 'pen was huge for us going forward and for the rest of the series."