Final Score: NYM 7 | KC 11

Overall Record: 10-5

Winning/Losing Pitcher:

• W: Alec Marsh (2-0, 4.32 ERA)
• L: Sean Manaea (1-1, 4.30 ERA)

Royals Player(s) of the Game:

Salvador Perez

2 for 5, 250th career HR, 4 RBI’s

Back to back recaps for me with Salvy being one of the player’s of the game, weird trend. Anyway, Salvy is proving that even at age 33 he can still swing it as he clubs his 250th career home run putting him 12th on the all-time catcher leaderboard. He is 10 home runs behind Braves great Javi Lopez and Hall of Famer Roy Campanella. At the rate he is going he could be at 300 sometime next season, barring injury.

Nick Loftin

3 for 3, 3 RBI, 1 BB

On a day where the lineup looked a little weird, Loftin batted in the 3-hole and provided some offense. He had a single in the first inning, got an RBI on a walk, an RBI single, and a sac fly to round out the day. While he hasn’t hit for a ton of power yet, he is getting on-base at a good rate when he is playing posting an OBP of .385. With Michael Massey set to return soon, it will be interesting to see what the Royals do with Loftin or Garrett Hampson.

Key Highlights

The offense exploded today after a dud last night with the two through six hitters all get two hits each, with Hunter Renfroe adding two from the 8-spot. The only Royals hitters to not get a hit were Maikel Garcia and Dairon Blanco. Garcia was the only batter to not reach base today and continues to struggle after a hot start to the year. Nelson Velazquez is continuing to swing a hot bat and while he isn’t blasting a home run every at-bat he is providing a lot of value in the 6-spot so far. Also, Garrett Hampson juked out Fransisco Lindor.

On the pitching side of things, Alec Marsh struggled in the first inning giving up three runs and having control issues. He got under control to go five innings giving up four runs as he didn’t have his best stuff today. Nick Anderson, John Schreiber and James McArthur all provided zeros in their innings of work.

Summary of the Next Game:

The Royals tie the series and look for a series win in the rubber match tomorrow at 12:40. They will send out ace Cole Ragans (0-1, 2.60 ERA) who looks to continue a good start to the season. The Mets will be sending out Jose Butto (0-0, 1.50 ERA) and look to crawl back to .500.

Photo credit: Jay Biggerstaff, USA Today