By MATT PIKE
Jesús Luzardo struck out nine Kansas City Royals in six innings and the Philadelphia Phillies hit three home runs to beat the Royals 6-1 at Kauffman Stadium.
Luzardo outpitched Royals All-Star selection Michael Wacha, dominating the Royals lineup through the first three innings, striking out six, while allowing only an infield hit. He allowed a run on four hits overall. Wacha meanwhile (5-6) escaped unscathed from an adventurous first inning, but then gave up back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, and another in the sixth inning. Wacha, who fell to 5-6 on the season, threw six innings and gave up four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts, walking one.
The Phillies broke the scoreless tie in the fourth when J.T. Realmuto connected for a 399 foot line drive two run home run to left-center and a 2-0 lead, scoring Bryson Stott. Gabriel Rincones Jr. followed two pitches later with a home run into the right-field bullpen, the fourth set of back-to-back homers by Philadelphia this year.
Kansas City scored in the bottom half of the fourth inning on an infield hit by Nick Loftin, who snapped an 0 for 23 skid, driving in Lane Thomas to cut into the lead. But in the sixth inning, Alec Bohm’s leadoff home run, his 11th of the season, gave the Phillies a 4-1 advantage. A wild pitch from reliever Lucas Erceg in the seventh inning scored Trea Turner, and the Phillies final run came in the eighth, as Rincones doubled to score Bohm off Jose Cuas.
Kansas City batted 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Royals have hit .118 in such at-bats while losing 8 of 9 games. Of the five hits Kansas City had against the Phillies in the loss, Tyler Tolbert was 2-for-2 with two stolen bases. Thomas was 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored while Loftin was 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Kansas City and Philadelphia continue their series tomorrow. Luinder Avila (3-3, 5.40 ERA, 43K's) makes the start for the Royals against Aaron Nola (3-5, 6.04 ERA, 87K's) for the Phillies. First pitch is at 2pm, with pregame at 1:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.