Royals push win streak to five games with contributions from the entire lineup
Eight of nine players in the starting lineup had at least one hit for the Royals, and the ninth player walked with the bases loaded to drive in a run. That’s how good things went for KC Saturday night.
Adalberto Mondesi and Whit Merrifield blasted home runs and the Royals totaled 13 hits in extending their win streak to five games with a 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Kauffman Stadium.
The game’s start was pushed back due to a police standoff in the Truman Sports Complex that prevented the teams from entering the facility until late in the afternoon.
Each of the top three hitters in the Royals lineup, Merrifield, Mondesi and Savador Perez had two hits apiece and all three recorded an extra-base hit — Perez doubled — while veteran left fielder Alex Gordon went 3 for 4 and drove in a run.
“This is the kind of baseball that we’ve been waiting to play all year,” Merrifield said, pointing to some of the injuries and COVID situations that sidelined players this summer — Brad Keller, Jakob Junis and, more recently, Jorge Soler with an oblique injury and Perez with persistent eye issues.
Mondesi became the first player in baseball’s modern era (since 1900) to record four games with both a home run and a stolen base in a six-game span. He’s also the second player since 1900 with a home run and stolen base in three consecutive games, joining Bobby Abreu (May 12-15, 2004).
Mondesi extended his hitting streak to a career-high nine games.
The Royals (19-28) clinched a win of the three-game weekend series, and they can sweep the Pirates with a victory Sunday afternoon.
“Salvy is one of the three offensive catchers in the game,” Merrifield said. “To have him back in the lineup, and he’s got a gold plate on his chest for a reason — he’s a great catcher and that’s such a valuable position. (Cam Gallagher) did an awesome job while Salvy was out. Obviously Salvy coming back brings a lot to our lineup. Mondi is just an electric player. We’ve seen that the past week, what he’s capable of.”
With the score tied at 3, the Royals tipped the game in their favor with a three-run fifth inning that featured four hits, one throwing error by the Pirates, a walk and a sacrifice fly.
Mondesi, Perez and Maikel Franco started things off with consecutive singles. Mondesi singled and stole second. He leads the majors with 16 stolen bases. Perez’s single drove in Mondesi. Franco, who has been playing through a leg injury for several weeks, hit a ball off the left-field wall but was thrown out at second base.
After a walk by Hunter Dozier, Gordon hit an infield single to score Perez. Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams threw wildly off-target to the plate, which allowed Dozier and Gordon to advance to second and third. Edward Olivares’ sacrifice fly drove in Dozier for the third run of the inning.
The Royals led 6-3 after the fifth and added a run in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Nicky Lopez.
“Salvy is just such a presence,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Mondi being Mondi and doing the things that he does well and being able to make a difference in the game a variety of different ways and continue to do what he does on the field defensively — he and Nicky Lopez, to me, make up as good of a tandem in the middle as you’re going to see — and then have big at-bats.
“That’s really a lot of what we’re hoping for, these guys grinding through at-bats and then surprising you. Whit has had a really nice year with the power he has been able to put up there and we’re just getting Mondi going.”
Relief pitcher Kyle Zimmer earned his first major-league win for throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of first-time starter Carlos Hernandez. Hernandez, a right-hander in his third MLB appearance, allowed three runs on three hits, all solo home runs, in three innings.
The players celebrated the first win for Zimmer, the oft-injured former top draft pick. Zimmer made his MLB debut last season after multiple surgeries and rehab periods that caused him to doubt if he’d ever make it to the majors.
“A lot of milk and barbecue sauce poured all over my head,” Zimmer said of the celebration. “I think I’m going to be smelling for a couple days. It’s worth it.”
Zimmer has grown to be one of the relievers Matheny trusts. Zimmer lowered his ERA this season to 1.35.
“It’s been a really long road,” Zimmer said. “It’s something that I worked long hours, a lot of years just grinding through stuff. We’ve still got a lot of ball to play, and we’re playing some really good ball right now. I’m going to try to stay sort of focused in the moment, but it’s a special thing for sure just with everything that I’ve gone through.”
Before the game, the Royals recalled outfielder Nick Heath from their alternate training site in KCK and reinstated third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez from the injured list (right elbow strain). Gutierrez, who made his MLB debut last season, started Saturday night’s game.
To make room for Heath and Gutierrez, the club optioned first baseman Ryan McBroom to the alternate training site and designated infielder Matt Reynolds for assignment.
Earlier this season, McBroom broke the franchise’s single-season record for pinch-hit home runs as well as the career record. He did it all in an 18-day span. But he’d gone 1 for 20 with one walk in his last 21 plate appearances.
Remembering Coach Lepp
The Royals had a moment of silence in recognition of former Olathe West assistant baseball coach Derek Leppert, who died Thursday after contracting COVID-19. Leppert, known as “Coach Lepp,” also worked in the school’s attendance office. Leppert’s picture was shown on the Crown Vision board.
Along with coaching at Olathe West, he also served as a pitching coach for the Royals Scout Team, a youth development and travel ball program under the umbrella of the Royals’ amateur scouting department at KC’s Urban Youth Academy.
This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 10:00 PM.
