By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals gave up two home runs to former Kansas State first baseman Nick Martini and suffered their first loss of Spring Training, falling 7-6.
Michael Wacha made his spring debut for the Royals, and started out striking out four consecutive batters, before surrendering the first home run to Martini. A hit batter and a single later, Wacha gave up a double to Adael Amador to give the Rockies a 3-2 lead, which they never looked back from.
Martini homered again in the fifth inning, off of St. Joseph's Noah Cameron who was making his second appearance of the spring after two scoreless innings in the opener last Friday. Cameron pitched two innings, giving up only the two runs on the home run, and striking out one.
Kansas City also sent Chris Stratton and Lucas Erceg to the mound in this game, both making their spring training debuts as well. They combined for four strikeouts, with one run given up by Erceg.
The Royals also saw MJ Melendez finally get his first hit of the spring, showing off his new and improved swing, a single in the first inning that scored Michael Massey. He also drove in Joey Weimer in the fifth with a single. Melendez was 2 for 3 at the plate.
The Royals are back in action on Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers. First pitch will be at 2:05pm, with pregame at 2pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.