By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals offense came to life on Saturday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, snapping a six game losing streak, and an 11 game losing streak at their home stadium, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-5.
The Royals jumped out to a lead in the third inning after three straight hits by Jonathan India, Bobby Witt Jr, and Maikel Garcia. India singled and back to back doubles by Witt Jr and Garcia brought in both India and Witt Jr to score, putting Kansas City up 2-0.
In the fifth inning the Royals added four more runs, first extending the lead with an RBI single by India, driving in Kyle Isbel who singled. Later in the inning, Vinnie Pasquantino hit his 12th home run of the season, a three run blast to center field, scoring India and Witt Jr to push Kansas City ahead of the Dodgers 6-0.
Los Angeles got on the board in the seventh inning on a solo home run by Freddie Freeman. In the bottom half of the inning, the Royals continued adding to their lead with three more runs, first with Witt Jr and India scoring once again on a double by Pasquantino, before Pasquantino came home on a double by Salvador Perez giving Kansas City an 9-1 lead.
Royals reliever Sam Long ran into some trouble in the ninth inning, but held onto the lead despite giving up four runs. A single by Max Muncy scored Hyeseong Kim who led off the inning with a single. Enrique Hernández drove in two more runs, bringing home Tommy Edman and Freeman, with another single before Andy Pages brought home Muncy to score the final run with an RBI single.
Seth Lugo earned the win for Kansas City, pitching 5 2/3 shutout innings giving up four hits and striking out eight, while walking five batters. It was a good day at the plate for Witt Jr and India who were both 4-for-5 with three runs scored, India driving in one run as well. Pasquantino was 2-for-4 with five RBI's.
With the series split, Kansas City and Los Angeles wrap things up tomorrow. Kris Bubic (6-5, 2.18 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals while the Dodgers pitcher is currently listed as TBD. First pitch is at 1:10pm, with pregame beginning at 12:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.