Salvador Perez, Bobby Witt Jr. hit home runs in 6-1 win to break losing streak

And two HRs for Salvy!

The Kansas City Royals jumped out to an immediate three-run lead against the Texas Rangers, and while it turns out that is all they would need, Kansas City scored three more to put together a decisive 6-1 victory.

Royals pitchers dominated all game. Seth Lugo started and has looked more and more like his 2024 Cy Young runner-up self. The only run he gave up came in the fourth inning off an Alejandro Osuna single which scored Corey Seager. Other than that? Nails. Lugo mixed pitches and even unleashed a pair of 68 and 69 MPH curveballs to stymie the Rangers. By the end of his start, he had nine strikeouts.

Really, the Rangers had one chance to come back. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Texas put together a little two-out rally with a Seager single and a Marcus Semien single. But Daniel Lynch IV managed to strike out Adolis Garcia to end the threat and the inning.

I’m burying the lede a little bit here, of course. Six runs! Wow! The Royals started it off with a Bobby Witt Jr. double and a Maikel Garcia single, making it 1-0. After Vinnie Pasquantino hit a ball 412 feet for an out, it seemed like one run would be all they got. But Salvador Perez hit a home run to make it 3-0, Royals.

The Royals would score in three consecutive innings, starting in the fourth. Pasquantino walked and then stole a base (seriously, he did). Perez hit a clean double to score Vinnie, though was stranded at second. In the fifth inning, Witt hit a home run of his own, a solo shot and his first regular season home run at Globe Life Field.

And in the sixth inning, Perez wasn’t done: he hit his second home run of the game to put the Royals at the final 6-1 lead. That home run was Perez’s 18th career multi-homer game. This achievement pushed Salvy past George Brett for the club record for most multi-homer games in Royals history.

By the end of the game, the Rangers had struck out 14 times and only managed a single walk off Lugo, Lynch, Jonathan Bowlan, and Steven Cruz, who unleashed a rather enjoyable 100 MPH fastball to strike out Jonah Heim for the last out of the game.

As for Jac Caglianone, he struggled once again, going 0 for 4. Hopefully, though, a looser Royals offense and clubhouse will help coax him to make the adjustments that he needs to make to contribute like we all know he will.