Adalberto Mondesi homers in his first home game this season as Kansas City Royals win
In the blink of an eye and with the flip of a bat, Adalberto Mondesi instantly put a charge into the entire stadium and eased the tension of what had been a one-run lead for the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.
Mondesi’s towering fifth-inning two-run homer, his second of the season in his seventh game, drove in the difference-making runs in the Royals 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of an announced 12,604 at Kauffman Stadium.
The Pirates added a late run, which made the two runs that scored on Mondesi’s homer — the fourth and fifth of the night for the Royals — the winning runs.
The first game of a six-game home stand, the night also marked the first game without capacity restrictions at Kauffman Stadium since the end of the 2019 season. The Royals (26-26) have now won three of their last four games.
Unfortunately, Mondesi finished the night in the trainer’s room with a left hamstring injury instead of celebrating the victory with his teammates on the field.
“He’s really been in a good place with his swing, and it was much needed at that point,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of the homer. “It gave us some breathing room.
“I hated to see him come out of the game right there. He had a tweak in his hamstring, so we’re still kind of getting our eyes on what that exactly is.”
The breathing room proved vital as the Pirates (20-33) appeared poised to hang around and make the Royals grind their way through a tightly-contested game.
The Royals were in danger of letting the Pirates off the hook in the fifth after a single by Andrew Benintendi and a wild pitch put him in scoring position with one out. Then Salvador Perez grounded out, and Mondesi stepped to the plate with two outs and the Royals holding a slim 3-2 lead with a runner on third.
Mondesi launched a first-pitch curveball high into the night sky. As soon as he made contact, the murmur of crowd noise immediately exploded into a roar.
Mondesi gazed at the ball as he took a quartet of short steps toward first base, then tossed the bat end-over-end with his right hand as he broke into a trot.
“I haven’t (seen that), but I like it,” Royals infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier said of the bat flip. “He’s feeling good. That was a big homer later in the game. I was totally cool with that.”
Just in that one moment, Mondesi gave a glimpse of the unique presence he provides the lineup when he’s healthy and active. The bat speed, the power, the swagger and the flare for the moment in front of a national television audience and playing in front of the home crowd for the first time this season.
In his first seven games since returning from the injured list with an oblique strain, Mondesi has already recorded four multi-hit games and five of his nine hits have been extra-base hits. With the homer on Monday, he has now homered in two of his last three games.
“He can just do so much,” Dozier said. “If he’s not swinging the bat, he’s going to find a way to get on. He’s going to bunt his way on and then steal two bags or he’s going to play amazing defense. He can do it all.
“And when he’s swinging the bat like he is now, it’s the spark — for sure. Ever since he’s gotten back, we can feel it. He’s just playing really good all the way around, and we hope he’s alright.”
Mondesi came out following a great defensive play to start the eighth inning when he charged from deep in the hole at shortstop, gloved the chopper on the infield cutout and fired across the diamond while on the run just in time to get Kevin Newman sprinting down the line.
All nine Royals starting position players, including the designated hitter, registered at least one hit for the first time since Aug. 6, 2020, against the Cubs.
Andrew Benintendi, Michael A. Taylor and Mondesi had two hits apiece, while Whit Merrifield, Nicky Lopez, Dozier and Taylor each hit doubles. Kelvin Gutierrez (two RBIs), Taylor, Dozier and Perez each drove in runs.
The Royals added two more runs in the eighth. Lopez entered the game as a pinch hitter for Mondesi to start the inning and doubled to left field. Lopez scored on a fielder’s choice by Gutierrez. Gutierrez scored on Taylor’s RBI double to the wall in center field.
Royals starting pitcher Mike Minor (4-2) turned in a quality start. He allowed two runs on five hits and one walk in six innings. He struck out seven.
Both runs the Pirates scored came after Minor gave up doubles to put runners in scoring position. A groundout in the first scored a run. A two-out single in the third scored the other run.
“They did a good job early on of getting those guys in,” Minor said. “I felt like I didn’t give up a whole lot of hard-hit balls, but they found a way to get the two runs on the board off me.”
Minor has logged seven strikeouts in a career-high five consecutive games, which matches the longest streak of at least seven strikeouts by a left-hander in Royals history. Danny Duffy accomplished the feat twice, most recently from Aug. 6-Sept. 17, 2017.
The victory against the Pirates also gave Minor a win against 29 of the 30 MLB teams, the lone remaining exception being the Tampa Bay Rays.
This story was originally published May 31, 2021 at 10:35 PM.
