Salvador Perez’s sixth-inning home run ignited the Kansas City Royals’ offense in an 8-2 win over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers in game two of a double header on Saturday night.
The Royals sent 12 batters to the plate in the decisive six-run sixth inning, nine of those with two outs. Perez hit a first-pitch curve ball 417 feet to center field for the go-ahead home run as the Royals took a 3-2 lead. After Jonathan India singled to right field, he was plated on Isaac Collins’ RBI single for a 4-2 advantage.
Kansas City poured it on as its lead grew to 6-2 on Kyle Isbel’s RBI single and Maikel Garcia’s RBI double. Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers’ error on a Vinnie Pasquantino grounder gave the Royals a 7-2 lead when Isbel scored. A wild pitch from Brewers reliever Jared Koenig scored Garcia as Kansas City took an 8-2 lead.
Nick Mears (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Royals after one inning of work. Eli Morgan pitched the final three innings to notch his first save.
Brandon Sproat (0-1) was saddled with the loss as he pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief, surrendering four hits, four runs, walked three and struck out four.
The Royals took a 2-0 lead on Carter Jensen’s one-out double down the right-field line that scored India and Perez in the bottom of the second inning.
Milwaukee answered right back when David Hamilton led off the third inning with a single and was driven in by Brice Turang, who looped an RBI triple under the glove of a diving Collins in left field to cut the Kansas City lead to 2-1.
One batter later, Garrett Mitchell blasted an RBI double to the right-field gap to score Turang and tie the game at 2-2.
Garcia was 3-for-5 with a double, a run and an RBI, India was 2-for-4 with two runs and Jensen was 2-for-3 with a run, a double, two RBIs and a walk. Kansas City held a 10-5 edge in hits.
Kansas City starting pitcher Seth Lugo labored through 103 pitches in five innings as he surrendered four hits, gave up two runs, walked two and struck out seven. Brewers starting pitcher Logan Henderson lasted two innings, yielding three hits and two runs with a walk and three strikeouts.
