By MATT PIKE
Salvador Perez blasted his ninth home run of the year, Jac Caglianone made an outstanding game saving catch, but the Kansas City Royals dropped the series finale 3-2 to the San Diego Padres on Sunday afternoon, losing the series.
The Royals took the lead in the sixth inning after Vinnie Pasquantino singled and then was brought home on Perez's deep blast to left field, traveling 412 feet according to Statcast, for his ninth home run of the season and third of the month, giving Kansas City a 2-0 lead.
In the seventh inning, the Padres came back to tie up the game though. Jackson Merrill led off the inning with a double off Royals starter Seth Lugo, and after Lugo got Manny Machado to fly out he was replaced by reliever Angel Zerpa. Zerpa, who had turned things around of late, ran into trouble though after getting Luis Arraez to groundout, walking Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts to load the bases.
San Diego pinch hit Jose Iglesias for Jake Cronenworth, and the Royals countered by bringing on Lucas Erceg in place of Zerpa, but Iglesias singled home Merrill and Sheets to tie the game. In the eighth inning, the Padres had a chance to take the lead, after Erceg walked Fernando Tatis Jr with one out. Erceg gave up a high deep hit to right field to Merrill, which was robbed by Caglianone
Daniel Lynch replaced Erceg in the ninth inning, giving up a single to Arraez and a then double to Bogaerts with one out before being replaced by John Schreiber. On a short grounder by Iglesias off Schreiber, Bobby Witt Jr attempted to throw home but it was late as Arraez scored the winning run for the walk off win.
Lynch took the loss, falling to 3-2 on the season, pitching 1/3 of an inning and giving up two hits with one run scoring. At the plate, Witt Jr and Freddy Fermin each went 2-for-4. Perez was 1-for-3 with the home run and two RBI's as well as a walk.
Kansas City is off tomorrow. They return to Kauffman stadium on Tuesday hosting Tampa Bay. Kris Bubic (6-4, 2.12 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals in the opener against Taj Bradley (4-5, 4.95 ERA) for the Rays. First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame coverage starts at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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