With their franchise-tying home losing streak in the past, the Kansas City Royals now get to focus on taking a series from the reigning World Series champions.
The Royals can post their first winning home series in nearly two months with a second consecutive victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon.
One day after losing 5-4 to match the club-record 11-game home losing streak, Kansas City rapped out 14 hits, highlighted by a three-run homer and two-run double from Vinnie Pasquantino, to defeat Los Angeles 9-5 on Saturday.
Desperately in need of offense, the Royals scored one more run than they totaled while losing their previous six games.
“A day we’ve been waiting for,” Pasquantino told FanDuel Sports Newtork after his five RBIs. “We need to do it more often.”
“(Saturday) felt like a nice step,” he added. “Just keep moving forward.”
Kansas City is 4-18 at home since last winning consecutive contests there as part of a four-game winning streak from May 5-9.
Bobby Witt Jr. and Jonathan India each had four hits on Saturday, and Seth Lugo struck out eight over 5 2/3 scoreless innings despite allowing four hits and five walks against the potent Dodgers, who didn’t threaten until a four-run ninth.
Scheduled Kansas City starter Kris Bubic (6-5, 2.18 ERA) will hope for similar run support on Sunday. He owned a 1.45 ERA through his first 11 starts of 2025 but has a 4.37 ERA while going 1-3 since then.
The left-hander did manage a quality start Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he yielded four runs (two earned) and eight hits while striking out eight without a walk in six innings of a 5-1 defeat.
“He was good,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “His command wasn’t quite as sharp early in the game. But he competes like crazy and gives us a chance.”
Though this will be Bubic’s first appearance versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, superstar Shohei Ohtani is 3-for-4 with a home run, double and two RBIs against him.
Ohtani, who threw two scoreless innings in his third 2025 start on Saturday, went 0-for-4 at the plate, striking out three times. In the series opener on Friday, he was 2-for-3 with a triple, home run and two RBIs.
Teammate Freddie Freeman, who is batting just .200 in June after a .410 clip in May, went 3-for-3 with two walks Saturday, including his first home run since May 11. However, Freeman is expected to have a planned day off Sunday but likely will be available late, if needed.
Saturday’s defeat snapped a five-game winning streak for Los Angeles, which has not lost back-to-back contests since June 6-7 at St. Louis.
“It never feels good to lose a game, but (Ohtani’s pitching and Freeman’s offense are) silver linings,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We got to make the plays we’re supposed to make.”
The Dodgers have not officially named a starting pitcher for this rubber match. Regardless, their staff must again deal with Witt, who is batting .340 with six doubles in the past 12 games. He’s also 15-for-45 (.333) with one home run and seven RBIs in 11 career games against Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ Max Muncy had two hits with an RBI on Saturday after hitting a two-run homer in the series opener. He’s 9-for-20 with 16 RBIs in the last five games.
–Field Level Media
