Royals avoid sweep with rout of Rockies
DENVER, Colo. (KMIZ)
After dropping a pair of two-run games to the Rockies to start the weekend, the Royals bounced back on Sunday afternoon. Kansas City cruised past Colorado 10-1 in their series finale to salvage a win from their three-game set.
With just five games left before the All-Star break, Matt Quatraro's crew remains in third place in the American League Central standings, sitting three games behind Minnesota for second place and nine games away from catching the division-leading Guardians.
Kansas City quickly built a 4-0 lead in Sunday's game, following a four-run second inning highlighted by a three-run home run by Maikel Garcia. After Garcia belted his sixth home run of the season, the Royals fell silent on offense until the seventh inning. That's when MJ Melendez crushed his ninth home run of the 2024 campaign to snap a four-frame scoreless streak for Kansas City and give his team a 5-0 lead.
Once Colorado scratched its only run of the game across the plate, the Royals ended the contest by scoring five more unanswered runs, including an RBI single from Michael Massey, a sacrifice fly from Freddy Fermin and a three-run home run from Bobby Witt Jr.
Witt Jr.'s three-run shot in the ninth inning gave him 15 home runs for the season and capped off his three-hit, three-RBI performance on Sunday. Three other Royals hitters posted multi-hit efforts, including Salvador Perez who posted career hit No. 1,500 at Coors Field on Sunday. Garcia also ended the afternoon 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
On the mound, Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer tossed a seven-inning gem, giving up only one run on six hits with seven strikeouts on his way to his fifth win of the season.
Up next - Kansas City has one day to prepare to travel to St. Louis to kick off the I-70 series. The Royals and Cardinals will meet in game one of the three-game set on Tuesday, July 9 at 6:45 p.m.
