Royals hand Nick Lodolo, Reds a 13-1 beating

Field Level Media|published: Sat 17th August, 21:47 2024

Kansas City Royals designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino (9) hits a base hit in the third inning of the MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024.

Dairon Blanco homered twice and collected seven RBIs on Saturday night as the Kansas City Royals rolled to a 13-1 win over the host Cincinnati Reds in the middle game of a three-game series.

Every starter had at least one hit and one run for the Royals, who won their third straight game. Kansas City began Saturday with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the race for the final American League wild-card spot.

The Reds, who entered Saturday four games behind the Atlanta Braves for the NL's third wild card, have dropped two in a row following a four-game winning streak.

The speedy Blanco, a 31-year-old reserve outfielder, entered Saturday with 21 stolen bases but just one homer and five RBIs in 97 at-bats. He made his first start since Aug. 4 a memorable one by hitting a two-run homer in the second, delivering a grand slam during a seven-run third and adding an RBI single in the fourth.

The two-homer game was the first for Blanco, who had four homers in 228 career at-bats prior to Saturday.

The seven RBIs were his career high, the most by a Royals player since Omar Infante had seven RBIs in an 8-4 victory over Cleveland on Sept. 17, 2015, and two shy of the franchise record established by Mike Moustakas in a 14-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 12, 2015.

Blanco also tied the team record for most RBIs by a ninth-place hitter set by Jerry Grote in a 12-9 win over the Seattle Mariners on June 3, 1981.

Salvador Perez opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning against Nick Lodolo. Freddy Fermin (walk), Paul DeJong (single) and Vinnie Pasquantino (double) added RBIs in the third, and Maikel Garcia lofted a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Pasquantino scored the Royals' final run on an error in the fifth.

Michael Wacha (10-6) cruised to the victory by allowing four hits and one walk while striking out a season-high nine over six scoreless innings.

Jeimer Candelario homered in the seventh for the Reds.

Lodolo (9-5) gave up eight runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out two over a season-low 2 1/3 innings. His ERA rose from 3.99 to 4.55.

--Field Level Media