By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals bounced back from a weekend sweep by the Texas Rangers, defeating the Miami Marlins at Kauffman Stadium 4-1 on Monday, powered by back to back home runs from Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez.
The Marlins did take the first lead of the game in the third inning, an RBI double from Bryan De La Cruz scoring Jazz Chisolm, but the Royals would storm back in the fourth inning for three runs.
With a 2-1 count, Pasquantino hammered a home run to right field to tie up the game, one pitch later Perez would hit his 12th home run of the year to left center to take the lead. Later in the inning with Micheal Massey on second base, Kyle Isbel would single to drive him in for the third run.
The Royals fourth run came in the sixth inning on another home run, Hunter Renfroe hitting his seventh of the season.
Cole Ragans spun a gem to shut down the Marlins, striking out 11 batters through six innings and giving up just the one run on four hits. The Royals bullpen combined for three scoreless innings, striking out four and giving up no hits.
The win for Kansas City marks the first series opening win since June 7th over the Mariners, a game in which they came back from being down 8-0 after four innings.
The Royals will send Seth Lugo to the mound to start game two of the series against the Marlins Yonny Chrinos, starting just his second game of the season and searching for his first win. First pitch is at 7:10pm with a 6:30 pregame on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
ROSTER MOVES
The Royals made a flurry of roster moves prior to the series opener with the Miami Marlins on Monday.
In need of an offensive spark the Royals designated reliever Jake Brentz for assignment and to fill the open spot on the 40 man roster selected the contract of first basemen C.J Alexander, calling him up from Omaha.
Alexander, who the Royals acquired in 2022 in the trade in which they also acquired Drew Waters, spent all of this season raking with the Omaha Stormchasers. The 27-year-old was slashing .323/.369/.555 with 16 doubles and nine homers in 56 games with the Storm Chasers.
While listed as a first baseman, Alexander has primarly played third base during the season in Omaha. The move for Alexander moves Maikel Garcia to second base, where he's played just four major league games and 11 in the minors.
The move for Alexander was also necessary as the Royals placed Adam Frazier on the 10 day injured list with a right thumb strain. Frazier had been dealing with thumb issues and suffered the injury after colliding with Garrett Hampson in the outfield on Saturday.
Kansas City also reinstated second baseman Michael Massey from the 10 day injured list and in a corresponding move optioned outfielder Nelson Velázquez to Omaha. Massey will be relegated to be the Royals designated hitter until he's ready to play in the field, which could take a few weeks.
Velázquez has hit .200 this season since making the Royals’ Opening Day roster and just .122 in his last 15 games. With Massey taking over DH at-bats, the Royals needing another infielder with Frazier’s injury and the team facing a slew of right-handed starters on the upcoming schedule, the Royals made the move to get Velázquez everyday at-bats in Omaha