The Royals homered thrice, all on first pitches.
Salvador Perez went yard twice and Jac Caglianone also homered as the Kansas City Royals completed the sweep with a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals let a scoring opportunity go in the first when Bobby Witt Jr. ripped a ball to left and missed a homer by just a few feet, settling for his MLB-leading 31st double. But Bailey Falter escaped as Vinnie Pasquantino hit a routine flyout to center and Maikel Garcia bounced out 6-3 to end the inning. The Pirates similarly blundered in the next inning. Oneil Cruz showed his athleticism turning a hard single into center into a double, but he was gunned down by Freddy Fermin while attempting to steal third.
Perez didn’t give Joel Goldberg time to finish his thoughts coming into the second inning as the former smashed the first pitch from he saw to dead center, one-hopping into the fountain and giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead. Goldberg was allowed to finish his anecdote after the captain rounded the bases.
Leading off the fourth, Garcia turned on an inside fastball, sending it down the left field line all the way to the wall for a double. He moved up to third when Perez hit a bullet to towards second base that went 4-3. Following Perez’s lead from the second, Caglianone took a rip at the first pitch. He got every stitch of it, hitting it 466 feet out to dead center to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Kris Bubic was cruising. Pittsburgh scattered baserunners over the early innings but couldn’t get a rally going and entered the sixth inning with eight straight having been retired. Then Tommy Pham singled down 0-2, Andrew McCutchen worked an eight-pitch walk, and Bryan Reynolds hit one to the perfect spot in the 5-6 hole and all of a sudden, Pittsburgh had the bases loaded with nobody out. Bubic was left in to clean up the mess. Nick Gonzales bailed him out by jamming himself on a pitch in and hitting a popup for the first out. Cruz then hit one up the middle that Witt gloved in such a position the first base was the only play. He gladly traded a run for the second out. That brought up the light-hitting Ke’Bryan Hayes. Bubic gave him a meatball over the middle and Hayes swatted it past Garcia at third to score both runners and tie the game. That ended Bubic’s night as John Schreiber was summoned to replace him. Schreiber struck out Joey Bart to end the inning.
The Royals nearly answered in the bottom of the inning. Perez led off with a single, which were followed by a fielder’s choice and a lineout. With two outs, Fermin hit his second double of the game to put runners on second and third. Kyle Isbel was summoned to pinch hit for Tyler Tolbert and he battled for eight pitches before striking out.
In the eighth inning, Perez did it again. In a repeated theme of the night, he hacked at the first pitch he saw it in the eighth inning. It was a pretty good slider down and away, but he got the barrel to it and crushed it out to just right-of-center. Cruz could only watch as it sailed over the fence and pushed Kansas City in front 4-3.
The Royals bullpen did an admirable job to hold the line after the sixth, with Schreiber and Lucas Erceg each completing scoreless innings. Carlos Estévez was summoned to record the save. He surrendered a one-out single to Royals legend Adam Frazier, but Estévez managed to strand him at first to secure the 4-3 victory.
The win improves the Royals to 46-48. They will get tomorrow off before welcoming the New York Mets to town for a three-game set this weekend.
Kris Bubic: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
Bailey Falter: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR
Salvador Perez: 3-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
Tommy Pham: 3-4, 2B