Kansas City Royals put together a complete game in routing the Baltimore Orioles
.JPG "Kansas City Royals’ MJ Melendez (1) celebrates with Bobby Witt Jr. (7) at home plate following his three-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)")
The Royals’ best game of the year? Book it.
The 8-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday before a Kauffman Stadium crowd of 17,650 included plenty of home team highlights.
Start with Jonathan Heasley.
In collecting his second major-league victory, Heasley tossed seven scoreless innings. After he surrendered a first-inning single the only other runner Heasley allowed reached on an error.
Royals pitchers had surrendered double-digit hits in 12 of the last 14 games. Friday, though, Heasley and three relievers allowed four hits for one of the season’s strongest efforts from the mound.
Heasley entered the night coming off successive quality starts, three runs allowed in six innings both times. This was easily the best effort of his young career.
“The biggest thing is I was on the attack from the get-go,” Heasley said. “I feel like I’ve been throwing well my last few starts, just going out there, giving up three runs, doing the same thing. But I feel like I’ve gotten more confident every time I’ve gone out there.
“This was he first time I said I was going to attack these guys, and let’s go see what happens.”
Three home runs helped extend the hot hitting of late. The Royals have now scored seven runs in three straight games for the first time since 2019. They collected a season-best eight extra-base hits on Friday.
MJ Melendez blasted a three-run shot; Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer, and Michael A. Taylor capped the scoring with a solo knock. Hunter Dozier would have made it four, but Cedric Mullins scaled the center-field wall to pull it back.
Perez’s homer cleared the second wall in center field and was measured at 436 feet.
“I hit it pretty good,” Perez said.
The Royals supported Heasley from the outset. Whit Merrifield stroked Bruce Zimmermann’s second pitch down the left-field line. Andrew Benintendi followed with an opposite-field RBI double.
One out later, Perez blasted his team-leading ninth home run, and in one plate appearance Perez had his second straight multi-RBI game. The homer was his third in seven games.
Perez added an RBI double in the third, scoring Bobby Witt Jr., who had one-hopped a ball to the left-field fence — 110 mph exit velocity — and turned it into a hustle triple.
Pitching and hitting were excellent. So was the defense.
It started with two outs in the third inning, when Mullins appeared to lay down a perfect bunt, up the third-base line. The speedy left-side hitter left the box assured he’d have a base hit.
But Perez got to the ball quickly, spun, and his dart got Mullins at first.
“I try to do my job behind home plate,” Perez said. “When I saw the ball it was kind of 50-50. I didn’t know if it was going to be a foul ball. I just picked it up and decided to go.”
Melendez chipped in with a diving grab on a sinking liner in right center.
“I kind of lost it in the light for about a half-second, but I tried to say with it,” Melendez said. “I just tried to guess where it was going to land. ... It was a great feeling.”
As impressive as those were, so was a catch by Taylor on a towering fly that was headed to Benintendi in left field. But Benintendi lost the ball in the twilight, said Royals manager Mike Matheny. Taylor quickly filled the space and made an awkward grab.
“That’s just Michael wanting to make a play because that’s almost in straight-up left field,” Matheny said. “That’s a special play.”
Add it up and the Royals now own a three-game winning streak, their second of the season. The first one occurred in April.
It also means the Royals (20-37) no longer own baseball’s worst record. They entered the day tied with the Oakland A’s for the game’s worst winning percentage. That now belongs solely to Oakland.
And the Royals are trending in the right direction.
“Extra-base hits, situational hitting, good base running, aggressive on the bases, good defense, then start out with our starter doing what he did today,” Matheny said. “All the pieces exactly how you want to see them to build confidence.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Kansas City Royals put together a complete game in routing the Baltimore Orioles."