Tyler Tolbert leads Royals’ offensive surge in series-opening road win at NY Mets
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Royals beat Mets 16-12 in series opener as KC extended winning streak to three games.
- Tyler Tolbert became the first Royal with a hit in 12 consecutive plate appearances.
- KC pounded out 19 hits with every starter recording at least one hit in the game.
If you love baseball anomalies, Citi Field was the place to be on Tuesday night.
The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets checked nearly every possible box for a Major League Baseball game.
There were home runs and stolen bases. One team committed three errors on a single play; the other celebrated a big-league debut. And both teams scored a ton of runs.
In the end, it was the Royals who prevailed 16-12 in a wild one, pushing their winning streak to three games in a row.
“Baseball is magical,” Royals third baseman Nick Loftin said. “I mean, we’ve been seeing some unbelievable things the last couple of days.”
Royals utility man Tyler Tolbert set a club record and tied a major-league mark: He became the first Royal to record a hit in 12 consecutive plate appearances. The streak was snapped in the ninth inning Tuesday, in a game in which he still went 5-for-6 with a home run.
“I’m truly lost for words, honestly,” Tolbert said. “I mean, I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, my coaches, and I kept saying God is good all the time.
“I don’t know, it hasn’t really hit me because, you know, every at-bat, I’m just trying to do a job. Execute the plan and whatever the plan and approach was and try to go off of that. It’s been fun. It’s been a journey of a ride. There was a lot of luck in some of those hits, but it was just fun, honestly.”
The Royals have scored 36 runs during their three-game win streak. After scoring 15 against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, they pounded out 19 hits against the Mets’ struggling pitching staff Tuesday.
Every Royals position player who started recorded a hit. Eight players drove in runs and six hit doubles.
Royals outfielder Lane Thomas finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Tolbert and Nick Loftin belted home runs.
Tolbert went 5-for-5 in Monday’s win against the Phillies. And with two straight hits in his previous game, his final hit Tuesday had him tied for a longstanding MLB record — shared by Johnny Kling (1902) and Walt Dropo (1952) — for most hits in consecutive plate appearances.
Twelve.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Obviously, the speed never slumps. The home run was a huge swing for us just to get back in the game after the way they scored those three runs in the first. ... I just couldn’t be more proud of him, the way he competes.”
The Mets jumped out to a 9-4 lead as KC starter Seth Lugo struggled in his return to Citi Field. Lugo allowed nine runs (six earned) in 4 1/3 innings.
He was also charged with one of three first-inning errors committed by the Royals. The mistakes led to a three-run outburst for the Mets, who added four more runs in the fourth.
“I thought it was a little unfortunate out there,” Lugo said. “I thought I made a lot better pitches than the scoreboard would show.”
Mets slugger Juan Soto belted his 20th home run in the fourth. It was a three-run blast off a 90.1 mph cutter that Lugo left elevated in the strike zone.
“I feel like I made one mistake out there,” Lugo said. “That was the three-run home run. Soto got me on a good pitch that he hasn’t historically hit. So I just tip my hat there. But I’m glad we got a team win.”
New York hit two homers Tuesday. Mets leadoff man A.J. Ewing added a two-run shot in finishing 4-for-4 at the plate.
Lugo didn’t qualify for the win. He threw 59 of 94 pitches for strikes in his first career start against his former team.
The Mets (38-54) opted for a bullpen game. Accordingly, the Royals were prepared to face multiple arms throughout the night.
KC was 9-for-23 with runners in scoring position (RISP). The Royals scored five runs in the fifth inning and added seven more in the seventh.
“I just think everybody is taking some team at-bats right now which is fun to watch,” Thomas said. “And you know, you string quality at-bat after quality at-bat, you put up good innings. And we’ve been doing that the last four or five days. So try to keep it going tomorrow.”
The Royals improved to 38-54. It was their sixth series-opening win in their last 11 series. The Mets have lost four of six.
What’s next: The Royals will start right-hander Steven Cruz on Wednesday night. New York will counter with right-hander Christian Scott (2-1, 3.49 ERA), with first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. Central Time.
This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Tyler Tolbert leads Royals’ offensive surge in series-opening road win at NY Mets."
