By MATT PIKE
Salvador Perez and Lane Thomas each hit home runs, helping to power the Kansas City Royals to beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 at Kauffman Stadium, locking down at least a series win to open the second half of the Major League Baseball season.
Thomas led off the scoring on a 421-foot two-run home run to left field, bringing home Carter Jensen, off Griffin Canning in the first inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a solo shot to left field in the third inning to cut the Royals lead to one, but in the bottom half of the inning Jac Caglianone's run-scoring double that brought home Jensen extended his hit streak to nine games and moved the Kansas City lead to 3-1.
Isaac Collins added an RBI single in the fourth inning driving in Michael Massey. Then in the sixth inning,bVinnie Pasquantino singled to extend an on-base streak to 14 games and then Perez added his two-run shot, his 12th this season, to center field that capped the scoring. Perez now has 315 career home runs, two shy of the franchise record held by Hall of Famer George Brett. The Royals clinched their 10th series win of the season and won a series against the Padres for the first time since 2023, taking a set from San Diego at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since 2002.
Randy Dobnak made his first start of the season after being acquired by the Royals and allowed one run and four hits while walking four and striking out three in 4.1 innings for the Royals. Daniel Lynch earned the win, improving to 3-2, pitching two scoreless innings giving up two hits. At the plate, Jensen was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring two runs. Thomas was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI's
Kansas City looks for the sweep tomorrow against San Diego. Noah Cameron (5-7, 4.89 ERA, 91K's) will start the finale for the Royals against Germán Márquez (4-2, 5.18 ERA, 28K's) for the Padres. First pitch is at 1:10pm, pregame will air at 12:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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