By MATT PIKE
With rosters expanded, a recently recalled by the Miami Marlins Graham Pauley hit a home run and tripled to drive in four runs, helping the Marlins roll past the Kansas City Royals 6-3 at Kauffman Stadium.
Pauley hit his second major league home run of the season in the second inning, a two-run shot to right scoring Owen Caissie. In the fifth inning, Kyle Stowers added a 412-footer to right to push Miami ahead 3-0 after five innings. By the end of the seventh, the lead was extended to six for the Marlins, Pauley's triple driving in Otto Lopez and Joe Mack, before Pauley scored on an RBI single by Javier Sanoja. Miami scored all six runs off Royals starter Randy Dobnak, now 2-3 on the season, who went six innings giving up seven hits and six runs while striking out six and walking two.
Kansas City began a rally in the eighth as Carter Jensen hit an RBI double, bringing home Josh Rojas, and Bobby Witt Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Isaac Collins. Also in the eighth, Royals manager Matt Quatraro was ejected after the Royals were initially granted a run-scoring balk to make it a three-run game, but it was reversed after the umpires discussed the call.
In the ninth inning, Nick Loftin hit a solo home run to cap the Royals scoring. Out of the bullpen, the two recent Royals call ups did take the mound, with both Nolan Hoffman and Easton McGee pitching a clean inning a piece, with a strikeout each. At the plate, Jensen was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Loftin was 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI, striking out twice. Rojas was 2-for-4 while Witt Jr was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.
Kansas City and Miami continue their series on Wednesday. Noah Cameron (9-8, 3.98 ERA, 131Ks) is set to take the mound for the Royals against Eury Pérez (7-10, 3.44 ERA, 142Ks) for the Marlins. First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame airs at 6pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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