Vinnie Pasquantino clubbed a three-run homer and had five RBIs and Michael Wacha allowed two runs while pitching into the sixth inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the visiting Washington Nationals 8-5 on Tuesday night.
Jonathan India added a two-run homer as Kansas City won its fourth straight home game. It was the third time this season Pasquantino recorded at least five RBIs in a game. Meanwhile, Wacha won his third straight start in lasting 5 2/3 innings.
James Wood and CJ Abrams each had two hits with an RBI for Washington, which has lost 10 of 13. The Nationals’ Mitchell Parker (7-13) yielded only two hits but three walks aided in him surrendering five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Kansas City’s Maikel Garcia opened the bottom of the first with a walk, went third on Bobby Witt Jr.’s tapper to Parker, then scored via Pasquantino’s sacrifice fly.
With two out in the third, Garcia drew another walk and Witt followed with a single. Then Pasqauntino’s liner that barely cleared the wall in the right field corner put Kansas City ahead 4-0.
Wacha, meanwhile, threw 27 pitches through the first three innings. He didn’t allow the Nationals’ first run until there were two out in the fifth on Luis Garcia’s RBI triple.
Washington made it 4-2 in the sixth when Abrams tripled off the right-center field wall and scored on a rare 8-4 fielder’s choice off a Paul DeJong pop fly that Witt dropped in short left-center field.
The Royals, however, added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Parker walked Witt to open the inning and then exited with one out. Randal Grichuk lined a two-out double down the right field line off Konnor Pilkington that scored Witt then India cleared the left field fence.
Washington got two of those runs back in the seventh via a two-out RBI double from Wood, who then scored on Abrams’ single. But Pasquantino struck again in the bottom of that frame with an RBI double.
The Nationals made it a three-run game on Daylen Lile’s run-scoring single in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
