Bobby Witt drives in 3 runs to lead the Royals to an 8-3 victory over rival Cardinals

BY CODY FRIESEN Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. drove in three runs and Michael Wacha struck out six in seven innings to lead the Kansas City Royals to an 8-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.

Maikel Garcia had an RBI single, Witt added an RBI triple and Salvador Perez hit a two-run, opposite field homer to right in the Royals’ four-run seventh inning. Perez, the 2015 World Series MVP, went 1 for 3 with the homer on the 13th anniversary of his MLB debut.

“Situational hitting was really good tonight,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “We had a lot of hits to move runners and put some pressure on by stealing some bases. We used every little bit to hang in that game.”

The victory clinched the season series for Kansas City for the first time since 2016. The teams split the two-game set.

Wacha (9-6) gave up two runs on five hits with two walks. He has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his 10 starts at Kauffman Stadium this season. Lucas Erceg recorded his fourth save.

“I felt good, I felt like I had a lot of pitches working and a lot of command with my mix today and the defense behind me played great,” Wacha said. “We were going for the season series here tonight and I was just excited to come away with a win and every game is big for us right now. We just keep trying to rack up wins and keep making a little noise.”

Garcia gave the Royals a 3-2 lead in the seventh. Kyle Isbel gave Kansas City an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI triple. Freddy Fermin drove in his 31st run of the season.

Cardinals starter Andre Pallante pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits with four walks with four strikeouts. Ryan Fernandez (1-4) took the loss in relief.

“(Pallante) did a nice job for us, he really did,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “He was able to stay focused, in the moment and keep attacking. I thought he did a really nice job with that today.”

Paul Goldschmidt hit a 430-foot, two-run home run, his 18th of the season, to give the Cardinals a lead in the second inning. Nolan Gorman added two hits as St. Louis went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Placed RHP Hunter Harvey (mid-back tightness) on the 15-day injured list retroactive to August 7. RHP Carlos Hernandez was recalled in the corresponding move.

UP NEXT

St. Louis will head to Cincinnati for a three-game series starting Monday. Sonny Gray (11-6, 3.65 ERA) is slated to take the mound for the Cardinals. Kansas City will head to Minnesota for a three-game series starting Monday. Brady Singer (8-7, 3.03) will get the start.