By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
In search of a leadoff hitter this past offseason, the Kansas City Royals traded Brady Singer to the Cincinnati Reds for Jonathan India, and also outfielder Joey Weimer. On Tuesday, Singer made his return to Kansas City, and shut down the Royals offense in a 7-2 win for his new club.
Tyler Stephenson gave Cincinnati the lead in the top of the second inning with a solo home run, but in the bottom half of the inning Kansas City got to Singer with four singles by Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey, Kyle Isbel, and India, with Garcia and Massey scoring runs in the inning to give the Royals a lead. After that inning however, Kansas City managed just four more hits
The Reds tied the game in the fourth inning, Elly De La Cruz hitting his 10th home run of the season off of Jonathan Bowlan. In the sixth inning, it was De La Cruz going deep again, this time off Taylor Clarke to give Cincinnati the lead, both of his home runs leading off their respective innings.
John Schreiber replaced Clarke in the eighth inning, and the Reds added three more runs. TJ Friedl singled and then scored on a throwing error by Schreiber following a single from Santiago Espinal, who advanced to second on the error. Schreiber intentionally walked De La Cruz, but then issued back to back walks to Stephenson and Spencer Steer, driving in Espinal for a score. Angel Zerpa came on in relief and forced pinch hitter Matt McLain to ground out, but with only one out De La Cruz came home to score.
In the ninth inning, with Steven Cruz pitching, Espinal doubled to drive in Friedl for the final score of the game. Singer earned the win, pitching seven innings, striking out three and giving up two runs on seven hits.
Clarke took the loss in relief, falling to 1-1. giving up just the one run on one hit, striking out three. In another bullpen game, in place of the injured Cole Ragans, Kansas City used seven pitchers. India and Massey led the way for the Royals with two hits each, going 2-4, with Massey scoring a run and India driving a run in.
Kansas City and Cincinnati wrap up their series tomorrow. Noah Cameron (1-1, 0.93 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals in the finale against Hunter Greene (4-2, 2.54 ERA). First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame coverage begins at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.