Salvador Perez got the pitcher and the pitch he wanted in the seventh inning Tuesday night, and he hit a two-run home run that carried the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was Cain’s first hit since returning from the disabled list, and he promptly stole second base.
Advertisement
Ventura had a lead to work with, and at least early on, he made it count.
Brad Boxberger (1-0) worked out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the eighth inning before Alex Colome earned his 26th save despite giving up two hits in the ninth inning.
The Rays scored twice in the fifth off starter Yordano Ventura without hitting the ball to the outfield.
Soria, who entered the game in the eighth, put the first two batters he faced on base when he gave up a hit to Logan Forsythe and walked Kevin Kiermaier.
The moves come a day after the Cardinals got regulars Brandon Moss and Jhonny Peralta back from injury and put shortstop Aledmys Diaz on the DL with a broken right thumb. After Brad Miller’s infield single, Desmond Jennings scored Kiermaier with a groundout to shortstop. He then got him back up for the rest of warmups, thinking the pronounced break would seem like a first inning to his mechanics and bypass his early issues.
That score held until the top of the seventh inning. Eric Hosmer led off the frame by punching an opposite-field single down the left-field line. After Kendrys Morales was called out on a borderline strike three call, Perez stepped to the plate and delivered the big blow. Duffy hit.295 with 12 home runs and 77 RBIs last season for the Giants, but had been struggling this season -.253, four home runs, 21 RBIs – before being injured. The Royals were back in front, 3-2. “We hung around and gave ourselves a chance in the late innings”. Evan Longoria is way out front on 116 hits with 53 runs, 23 homers and 59 RBI. He struck out both hitters he faced with 95+ miles per hour fastballs, delighting his family, who was shown on TV jumping up and down with every pitch.
The 27-year-old southpaw turned in one of the truly dominant outings of the 2016 campaign, allowing just one hit and one walk over eight scoreless innings.
Jacob deGrom pitched seven scoreless innings, Alejandro De Aza and Travis d’Arnaud homered off Masahiro Tanaka, and the New York Mets’ offense woke up in a 7-1 Subway Series win over the Yankees on Tuesday. Cedeno (3-3) took the loss.
Kansas City Royals starter Ian Kennedy pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Advertisement
“Obviously pretty disappointing”, Miller said before Tuesday’s night game against Kansas City. Kansas City OF Billy Burns, acquired from Oakland last Friday, was recalled and made his debut with his new team Wednesday while going 0-for-1.2.
