KC Royals Power Past the Chicago Cubs 8-4

We have been waiting for the KC Royals dormant offense to finally wake up. After looking like one of the best offenses in baseball, the Royals had been in the midst of quite the offensive slump over the past four games. Today, that offense broke out of their malaise in a big way, as the Royals earned an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

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The offense started off the game with a bang. Alcides Escobar homered on the first pitch he saw, giving the Royals an early lead. Alex Gordon extended that advantage with a solo shot of his own in the top of the second, as the KC Royals jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings.

The Cubs came back in the bottom of the third. With one out, Addison Russell hit a ground rule double to right, as the ball became stuck in the ivy covering the walls. After a fly out, Kris Bryant roped a double to left center to plate Russell, cutting the lead in half.

Salvador Perez made sure that the one run advantage would not last long, sending Jake Arrieta‘s 1-2 offering to left for a solo shot of his own. Kansas City added another run in the top of the sixth, using some two out magic. Lorenzo Cain singled to center, and scored on Eric Hosmer‘s double to give the Royals a 4-1 lead.

With the way Edinson Volquez had been pitching, that lead seemed safe. Indeed, he was shutting down the Cubs until two outs in the bottom of the inning, when he simply ran out of gas. With a runner on first, Volquez went to 3-0 to Jorge Soler, who deposited Volquez’s final pitch of the afternoon into the seats in left, cutting the lead to 4-3. Volquez allowed the three runs on six hits and a walk in 5.2 innings of work, striking out nine.

Unfortunately, Volquez ended up with a no decision. Kelvin Herrera came in for the seventh to slam the door on the Cubs chances, only to give up a home run to Russell to tie the game at 4-4. Fortunately, that served to awaken the Royals bats once again. Mike Moustakas worked a leadoff walk in the top of the eighth, and scored on Cain’s double to right center. After an intentional walk and two strikeouts, Omar Infante hit what seemed to be the final out of the inning. Instead, Dexter Fowler dropped the ball, allowing Cain and Hosmer to score to give the Royals a 7-4 lead.

Kansas City tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth, as Jarrod Dyson reached on a bunt single, and took second on an error. Escobar followed with a base hit up the middle, plating Dyson for the final run in the Royals 8-4 victory.

Despite allowing that tying run, Herrera picked up his first win of the season, allowing the run on two hits and a walk, striking out one in his inning. Cain was 3-4 with a double, a stolen base, an RBI and two runs scored.