MLB ROUNDUP
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Vinnie Pasquantino broke out of an early season slump with a home run and a career-high five RBIs to lead the Kansas City Royals to an 11-2 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night for their sixth straight victory.
Pasquantino went 3 for 3 with a single, double, homer and a walk with two runs scored after entering the game 4 for 37 with four singles and no RBIs.
“I try not to consider it slumps or highs and lows,” he said. “I just try to consider it that you’re riding this roller coaster and you try to keep it as much of a kiddie ride as you can. Obviously, the first week and a half wasn’t what I wanted statistically, but tonight felt good.”
The Royals scored seven times in the third inning, jump-started by Pasquantino’s two-run double. Kansas City, which had eight runs in the seventh against the Chicago White Sox on April 4, has multiple innings of seven or more runs in April for the first time since 2000.
Seth Lugo (2-0) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings. It was the Royals’ ninth quality start in 12 games, the most in the majors.
The Royals’ six-game winning streak is their longest since last September, when they also won six straight — including a three-game sweep of the Astros in Houston. The Royals will go for a 7-0 homestand in Thursday’s finale.
The Royals are 7-1 in their last eight games against the Astros.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said he had seen Pasquantino pressing this season, but he had confidence his slugging first baseman would come around.
“We really feel Vinnie is a really quality major league hitter,” he said. “He’s played in 10 games or whatever prior to tonight. That’s a really small sample. He’s done it at this level before. We know he’s going to continue to do it.”
Kim’s mixed day
Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres had a roller-coaster day as his team routed the Chicago Cubs 10-2 at home.
Kim had two hits and scored two runs at Petco Park in San Diego on Wednesday but also committed his third error of the season at shortstop.
Batting sixth, Kim stepped in with one out in the second inning, after Jurickson Profar hit a single off starter Kyle Hendricks. Kim followed up with an infield single and moved to second when Luis Campusano singled to left to cash in Profar for a 1-0 San Diego lead.
Kim then swiped third base for his fourth steal of the season and scored on a groundout by Jackson Merrill to make it 2-0 for the Padres.
However, Kim’s fielding error in the top of the fourth allowed the Cubs to tie the score at 2-2.
It was Kim’s third error of this year. He made only seven errors in all of last year, when he won the National League Gold Glove at the utility spot.
But Kim atoned for his miscue in the bottom of the fourth.
Profar first put the Padres back on top 3-2 with an RBI double, though he was thrown out at third trying to stretch it to a triple. Kim then hit a triple to right-center field, his second three-bagger in three days and then scored to make it 4-2 Padres when Campusano grounded out to shortstop Dansby Swanson. (Yonhap)