By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals struggled against Miami Marlins starter Cal Quantrill before Salvador Perez tied the game in the eighth inning with a solo home run, but the Royals bullpen again blew the tie in the bottom half of the inning and Kansas City fell to the Marlins 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
The Marlins took the lead in the bottom of the first after Xavier Edwards tripled into right field and then scored as Otto Lopez grounded out for the second out of the inning against Royals starter Michael Wacha. After the opening run, both Wacha and Quantrill settled in as they allowed just five hits combined before both left the game after the sixth inning.
After a scoreless seventh, the Royals tied up the game in the eighth inning as Perez led off the inning blasting his 14th home run of the season to centerfield. Kansas City had a chance to take the lead with two outs, after walks to John Rave and Adam Frazier, but Jonathan India flew out to left to end the inning.
Lucas Erceg came on in the bottom half of the inning attempting to hold the tie, but immediately ran into trouble, loading the bases after walking Graham Pauley, giving up a double to Edwards, and intentionally walking Jesús Sánchez. A double from Lopez gave the Marlins the lead, driving in both Pauley and Edwards for the final runs of the game. In the bottom half of the inning, the Royals went 1-2-3 as Anthony Bender earned his third save for the Marlins.
Erceg fell to 4-3 on the season taking the loss, pitching one inning and giving up two runs on two hits while striking out one and walking three. At the plate, Perez was 1-for-3 with the home run and an RBI. The Royals had just three hits in the game.
Kansas City and Miami wrap up their series tomorrow. Kris Bubic (7-6, 2.48 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Janson Junk (4-1, 2.68 ERA) for the Marlins. First pitch is at 12:40 with pregame coverage beginning at noon on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.