Six innings of nothing broke wide open in the seventh. The Royals and Giants traded zeros through the middle innings before Kansas City turned a 3-0 deficit into a 5-3 lead in a single frame, then survived a ninth-inning scare to win 5-4.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| KC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | X | 5 | 9 | 0 |
Salvador Perez supplied the loudest swing of the inning, a two-run homer to center measured at 437 feet that pulled the Royals within one. He finished 1-for-4 with the homer and 2 RBIs, part of a season in which he carries 14 home runs and 43 RBIs. Nick Loftin and Lane Thomas followed with the hits that flipped the game, combining for three RBIs in the frame.
The Giants had built their lead an out at a time. Luis Arraez's sacrifice fly to center scored Adames in the sixth to open the scoring, and San Francisco added two more in the top of the seventh when Jung Hoo Lee tripled to right to bring in Devers, and Willy Adames followed with a ground-rule double to score Lee, making it 3-0. But Kansas City answered immediately in the bottom half. Perez's homer cut it to 3-2, then Nick Loftin singled to left to score Massey and tie it at 3-3, and Lane Thomas singled to right to plate both Loftin and Marte, putting the Royals ahead 3-5 for good. San Francisco's Casey Schmitt homered to left in the ninth to make it 4-5, but the Giants got no closer.
Landen Roupp kept the Giants in position for most of the night, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks over 6.0 innings, but he did not factor into the decision. San Francisco's bullpen unraveled behind him, as Sam Hentges surrendered 2 runs on 2 hits while recording just one out and took the loss, falling to 1-3. The Giants' relief corps combined to allow 3 runs over 2.0 innings.
Seth Lugo went 7.0 innings for Kansas City, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks to earn the win, improving to 4-6 with a 4.36 ERA. Steven Cruz worked the ninth for his first save of the season, though he allowed a run on Schmitt's homer before closing it out. The win was Kansas City's third straight, lifting the Royals to 43-60, while San Francisco dropped its fifth in a row to fall to 42-60. Adames, who drove in a run with his double, sits at 198 career home runs, two shy of 200.