Maikel Garcia, Royals vie to stay hot in encounter vs. Padres

After wasting good pitching at the expense of poor hitting, the Kansas City Royals finally have gotten the bats going this week.

Not surprisingly, they will take a four-game winning streak and a chance to win a second straight road series into Saturday's matchup with the San Diego Padres.

In the middle of much of the surge has been third baseman Maikel Garcia, who had three of Kansas City's 11 hits Friday night during a 6-5 victory. One was a leadoff single in the eighth inning that ignited a two-run rally that snapped a 4-4 tie.

Garcia is 8-for-17 during the team's winning streak, including a three-run homer Wednesday night in a 6-3 victory at Texas. He enters Saturday's game with a team-high .319 batting average, eight homers and 36 RBIs.

"I'm just playing the game," Garcia said. "Playing situations in the game, put the ball in play, move the runner, and good things happen. I struggled last year. But the adjustments I did in the offseason, I feel great this season."

Garcia is on pace for career bests in several categories, except for runs and steals. His batting average is 88 points higher than he finished last year, when he said he got too conscious about trying to hit homers after belting a couple to start the season. And he's improved his walk-to-strikeout rate to boot.

"Maikel hasn't slowed down," Royals second baseman Jonathan India said. "It's incredible what he's doing. He's an All-Star."

Rookie left-hander Noah Cameron (2-2, 1.91 ERA) has pitched like someone who could be a future All-Star in the first seven starts of his MLB career. He will start for Kansas City on Saturday and is coming off five shutout innings Sunday in his team's 3-2 loss to the Athletics.

Cameron allowed four hits and a walk while striking out seven heading into his first career encounter versus the Padres.

While Cameron is rolling, his mound opponent Saturday continues to search for the form that netted him 14 wins last year. San Diego's' Dylan Cease (2-6, 4.69 ERA) is coming off a 6-3 loss Monday night at the Los Angeles Dodgers, who touched him for six runs on eight hits in five innings.

Cease, who walked one and fanned nine, is 5-4 with a 3.50 ERA in 16 career starts against the Royals, mostly with the Chicago White Sox. He received a no-decision in May 2024 in San Diego's 11-8 win in Kansas City.

The Padres got good news Friday when Fernando Tatis Jr. was able to return after taking a 93-mph fastball to the hand in the ninth inning of their 5-3 win over the Dodgers on Thursday.

San Diego also received another big game from surging shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who went 3-for-4 to raise his average to .247. Bogaerts tied a team record with hits in eight straight at-bats, dating to a game-tying RBI double in the ninth inning on Wednesday. He popped up in the ninth inning Friday night to end the stretch.

"It's nice to have the results," he said. "When (hits) come, they come in bunches."

--Field Level Media