By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals were unable to overcome a nine run first inning by the Houston Astros, that saw Yordan Alvarez become the third player in Houston history to hit two home runs in an inning as the Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 10-8 at Kauffman Stadium.
Royals starting pitcher Luinder Avila didn't even make it out of the first inning, surrendering five hits, eight runs, and three walks, getting just two outs. Alvarez started the scoring with a two run home run, scoring Jeremy Peña, and Christian Walker followed with a solo home run to put Houston up 3-0 against Avila. After getting the two outs, Avila walked Joey Loperfido and gave up a single to Cam Smith, before Loperdifo scored on an RBI single from Taylor Trammell. A passed ball with the bases loaded scored Smith, making it 5-0, and after Avila walked Peña, his day was done.
Mason Black came on in relief, and on a 1-0 count gave up a grand slam home run to Alvarez, driving in Trammell, Christian Vázquez, and Peña. Alvarez is the 63rd player in major league history to hit two home runs in one inning, and the first Houston player since Jeff Bagwell did it on June 24, 1994. He is the first since Boston's David Ortiz on Aug. 12, 2008 to do it in the first. He is also just the eighth player to hit a grand slam and a multirun homer in a single inning, and the first to do it in the first inning, per Sportradar.
Trailing 9-0, the Royals answered with five runs in the bottom half of the first inning. Vinnie Pasquantino's RBI single drove in Carter Jensen to start the scoring before Pasquantino was thrown out at second as Maikel Garcia reached first base, bringing home Bobby Witt Jr. WIth two outs, Michael Massey's RBI double scored Garcia, and moved Salvador Perez to third base, setting up Kameron Misner's two RBI single, driving in both, to make it 9-5.
Kansas City added three runs in the eighth inning to make it a one-run game, Massey driving in another run with an RBI single that scored Garcia, a bases loaded walk to Jensen bringing home Perez, and a single from Witt Jr scoring Massey, but Brice Matthews hit pinch-hit home run for the Astros in the ninth to make it 10-8, and Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his second save.
Avila fell to 1-3 on the season taking the loss. At the plate, Perez was 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Massey was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI's with two runs scored, while Misner was 2-for-3 with two RBI's.
.Kansas City and Houston continue tomorrow. Noah Cameron (3-4, 3.84 ERA, 63K's) takes the hill for the Royals opposite Mike Burrows (3-8, 5.77 ERA, 60K's) for the Astros in the second game of the series. First pitch is at 6:10pm, pregame will be at 5:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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