This one got away from Kansas City fast, and by the end it wasn't close. The San Diego Padres routed the Royals 19-2 at Kauffman Stadium, turning a competitive early game into a rout with a five-run eighth and a six-run ninth that buried any hope of a comeback.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 19 | 1 |
| KC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
Jackson Merrill was at the center of it, going 4-for-6 with two home runs and 4 RBIs. He opened the scoring for San Diego with a two-run shot in the fourth inning off Noah Cameron, then delivered again in the ninth, homering to right and driving in Song to help close out the rout. Ty France matched him with two home runs of his own, finishing 2-for-6 with 5 RBIs, and Fernando Tatis Jr. added a homer among his 2-for-5 night with 4 RBIs. San Diego's lineup pounded out 19 hits as a team.
Kansas City actually struck first. Jac Caglianone put the Royals up with a solo homer to right in the first inning, a 432-foot blast that made it 0-1. But San Diego answered in the second, and it was Tatis Jr.'s two-run single that put the Padres ahead for good, plating Bowen and Rengifo to make it 2-1. From there San Diego never trailed. Merrill added an RBI single, Machado brought home another run on a sacrifice fly, and the Padres kept building. The floodgates fully opened late, with France's grand slam-style eighth-inning blast scoring three more, and a six-run ninth featuring homers from Merrill and France plus RBI hits from Bowen and Song.
Noah Cameron took the loss for Kansas City, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits over 5.0 innings, falling to 5-8 on the season with a 5.27 ERA. The Royals' bullpen fared even worse, surrendering 12 runs over 4.0 innings as San Diego kept adding on. Randy Vasquez started for San Diego and worked around trouble, allowing no runs on 3 hits over 3.0 innings, and Yuki Matsui closed strong with 2.0 scoreless innings and 3 strikeouts to earn the win, his first of the season.
San Diego improved to 49-50, snapping in with a win to open a new streak after riding a one-game skid into the day. Kansas City fell to 40-60, its second straight loss. Ty France sits at 95 career home runs, in range of the 100 mark, while Xander Bogaerts is nearing his 400th career double after finishing with one more Wednesday. Manny Machado, held hitless but drawing two walks, continues to close in on 2,000 career games played.