Bobby Witt. Jr. clubbed a two-run homer and had three RBIs, as Kansas City went deep four times, while rookie Noah Cameron allowed two runs over seven strong innings of the Royals’ 9-3 home win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.
Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez and Nick Loftin each hit solo homers for the Royals, who have won five of seven following a 5-14 rut.
Cameron (3-4), meanwhile, yielded Tommy Pham’s two-run home run in the third that snapped Pittsburgh’s 30-inning scoreless streak, plus two other hits and struck out seven with a walk, while setting career highs for innings and pitches (109) in his 11th MLB start.
Alexander Canario added a ninth-inning RBI single, one of the four hits for Pittsburgh, which has dropped six straight on the road. The Pirates’ Andrew Heaney (4-8) allowed four runs and six hits in just three innings.
Kansas City opened the scoring in the first. With two out, Pasquantino clubbed a Heaney fastball well over the right-field fence for a 1-0 Royals lead.
However, in the third, the Pirates scored for the first time in four games. Henry Davis singled and eventually scored on Pham’s long ball that put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1.
Kansas City, though, regained the lead for good during its half of the third. Jonathan India and Witt singled, and Maikel Garcia came through with a one-out RBI single. Perez just missed clearing the left-center field wall, settling for a run-scoring double.
After Heaney hit Jac Caglianone with a pitch to load the bases, the Royals made it 4-2 after Pittsburgh couldn’t turn a potential inning-ending 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Mark Canha.
With Pittsburgh’s Chase Shugart on the mound, the Royals added on in the fourth. India doubled and came home when Witt sent one the opposite way and over the right-field wall.
In the fifth, Perez didn’t miss while driving a Shugart pitch into the shrubbery over the left-field wall for a 7-2 Kansas City lead.
Witt drove in his final run via a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Loftin went deep in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
