Luinder Avila took a shutout into the sixth inning, and the Kansas City Royals hit four solo home runs in the first three innings of a 6-2 victory over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Stadium.
Carter Jensen led off the game with a home run to open the scoring. In the second inning John Rave added to the lead with a solo home run, before Lane Thomas and Michael Massey hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning to push the Royals to a 4-0 lead at the end of three innings
Kansas City took a 6-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning after Rave tripled to lead off the inning and scored on Isaac Collins' squeeze bunt. Bobby Witt Jr. added an RBI single later the inning. driving in Collins. Avila, who improved to 2-3 earning the win allowed a run and three hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
Avila was pulled in the bottom of the sixth with two outs and a runner on first. CJ Abrams greeted reliever Matt Strahm with an RBI double, bringing home Curtis Mead, then came home on Dylan Crews' single to make it 6-2.
At the plate, Jensen was 4-for-4 coming a triple shy of a cycle with a double, a home run, and one RBI, with one stolen base. Rave was 2-for-4 with a triple and home run, also with one RBI. Witt Jr was 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.
Next, Kansas City returns home to face St. Louis tomorrow. Noah Cameron (3-4, 4.11 ERA, 64K's) starts for the Royals against Matthew Liberatore (3-3, 4.71 ERA, 65K's) for the Cardinals. First pitch is at 6:40pm, you can hear Royals pregame at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM), while Cardinals coverage starts at 6:30 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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