Kendrys Morales ends June white-hot, leads Royals to 4-2 victory over Cardinals

The baseball exploded off maple at 116 mph, the sound echoing in the humid Missouri night. As it soared toward the second deck in left field here at Busch Stadium — the hardest hit ball by a Royals hitter in 2016 — Kendrys Morales stepped out of the batter’s box and discarded his bat like a used tooth pick.

In a moment here on Thursday, he had unleashed a thunderous hack, crushing a solo homer 456 feet, delivering a precious insurance run in the Royals’ 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Down on the field, word would soon spread that Morales had hit the longest homer by an opponent in the 11-year history of this stadium. Somewhere amidst a white Royals jersey, Morales would hear the piece of trivia.

“I hit the ball well,” Morales said, through translator Pedro Grifol. “I don’t think I’ve hit one like that this year.”

Statcast breaks down Kendrys Morales’ mammoth home run 

The homer, delivered in the top of the eighth inning against Cardinals reliever Tyler Lyons, offered a two-run cushion just one night after the Royals’ bullpen had blown two one-run leads.

The moment provided breathing room. It also punctuated a month of rebirth for Morales, who finished 3 for 4 with a homer and two doubles, capping a white-hot June.

When the month began, Morales was batting just .193. When he boarded a plane bound for Philadelphia on late Thursday night, his average sat at .262, a season transformed in the span of 30 days.

“He’s sure picking us up,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s on fire offensively and doing a very solid job in the outfield for us.”

Two months ago, of course, the previous sentence would have felt absurd, mostly because who saw Morales starting two games in right field and acquitting himself quite well? On Thursday, the Royals hottest batter was a designated hitter turned corner outfielder, carrying the offense for another night.

The Royals, 42-36, claimed their third victory in four nights against their in-state brethren. They took advantage of three errors by the Cardinals’ defense and another key misplay. They opened an eight-game road trip with two victories in St. Louis, improving to 15-25 away from Kauffman Stadium entering a three-game series in Philadelphia.

In the process, they handed the Cardinals their seventh straight home loss, their longest home losing streak since 1983.

“We took advantage,” Yost said. “And that’s what good clubs do. If a team makes a mistake, you take advantage of it.”

For the Royals, the only bad news resided in Toronto, where the first-place Cleveland Indians ran their winning streak to 13 games. Kansas City could only keep pace, remaining six games out of first in the American League Central.

For the second straight night, the Royals received a resurgent effort from a starting pitcher. In the case of Chris Young, the degree of improvement was somewhat relative. In his last start, Young had been raked for seven earned runs in 2  1/3 innings against the Houston Astros. He surrendered two home runs and issued four walks. His ERA ballooned to 6.54.

On Thursday, Young walked a tightrope for four innings, allowing just one hit and maneuvering around six walks. He battled a tight strike zone and allowed just one hit. But the one hit — a solo homer from right fielder Brandon Moss in the fourth — was a loud one, a piece of clout that landed in the far reaches of right field. The tape-measure blast traveled an estimated 477 feet, making it the longest homer in the history of new Busch Stadium.

Yes, the ball was carrying well here on Thursday.

“It was a 3-1 pitch, leading off an inning,” Young said, recounting the battle against Moss. “I’m trying to challenge him a little bit. I’m hopeful that maybe he doesn’t square it up. The pitch right before that, I thought was painted, down and away. I thought it could have gone either way. It goes 3-1 instead of 2-2; it changes the complexion of the at-bat.”

By the end of the fourth inning, Young had thrown 91 pitches and racked up five strikeouts, limiting the damage. Yost was poised to pull the ripcord, summoning right-hander Dillon Gee in the fifth.

Gee worked one scoreless inning in the fifth before leaving a change-up in the zone against third baseman Jhonny Peralta. The baseball was battered over the wall in right-center field. The Royals’ lead was sliced to 3-2.

Kansas City had built a 2-0 lead in the early innings, siphoning runs against a porous Cardinals defense. They were gifted a run in the first, when Peralta misplayed a chopper at third base. Whit Merrifield would end up on second after the error, and moments later, he attempted to steal third against Cardinals starter Mike Leake.

Cardinals catcher Brayan Peña, a former Royal making his first start of the season, threw the baseball into left field, and Merrifield cruised home.

The awkward defense surfaced again in the second. With two outs and a man on second, the Royals’ Jarrod Dyson lofted a shallow fly ball down the right field line. The ball would tip off the glove of Peralta, and Alcides Escobar would score from second, stretching the lead to 2-0.

Moss trimmed the lead in half with his booming homer in the fourth. The Royals added another run on an RBI double from Morales in the sixth. Two innings later, Morales would strike again.

The pitch was a 93-mph fastball. Morales put his barrel on the baseball, jolting it to deep left. Upon contact, a wave of white jerseys hugged the top of the railing in the third-base dugout. Morales took a moment to admire the shot.

“I haven’t had a streak like this in the big leagues,” Morales said, as Grifol translated.

One month ago, the Royals had a hole in the middle of their lineup. For the moment, as the calendar turned to July, the void has been filled.

“That’s why you’re patient,” Yost said.

Kendrys Morales collects four hits in Royals' win

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Kendrys Morales ends June white-hot, leads Royals to 4-2 victory over Cardinals."