KC Royals pound Padres thanks to Cain’s big day

That was quite the historic day for the KC Royals against San Diego. Offensively, in a pitcher’s park. In a win. A dominating one. So… that was fun!

The KC Royals did something kind of fun on Saturday. And by that, I mean they completely snowed under an inferior team in the San Diego Padres.

The 14 hits were nice. The dozen runs pushed across were nicer. The five home runs and nine-run eighth inning were flabbergasting—in a good way—as the KC Royals cruised to a 12-6 win at Petco Park.

The faceless Padres lineup was paced by Jose Pirela, who was involved in five of the six runs pushed across by the home team. He homered in the bottom of the first inning to get the party started.

It kind of looked like a pitcher’s duel early on.

The Padres would retain a 1-0 lead until the top of the fifth, when Alcides Escobar cranked a one-out solo home run. It was Esky’s first of the campaign (did I mention it was a pitcher’s park?) and he got his money’s worth, clearing the wall by several rows.

Pirela (again) would get involved in the home half, doubling home Allen Cordoba and Erick Aybar and then scoring when Yangervis Solarte singled him in two batters later.

That would be all against Ian Kennedy, who didn’t have his usual success against San Diego but also was not the dumpster-firey version of himself KC Royals fans had been treated to in 2017. He went six innings, struck out five and allowed four earned runs and, unfortunately for him, did not factor into the decision.

Factoring heavily into the decision would be Lorenzo Cain, who hit the first of his two home runs in the sixth inning as a leadoff job; local folk hero Whit Merrifield reduced the deficit to a run the next inning with a run-scoring single.

(Solarte singled to score Pirela the following inning. It would prove not particularly worrisome.)

The KC Royals eighth inning featured back-to-back home runs (a two-run blast by Eric Hosmer, followed by Salvador Perez’s solo blast (career homer No. 100) to put the Royals ahead). Six batters would come to the plate for the Royals before San Diego could get an out.

Highlights include:

A Merrifield sac fly (highlight may be a stretch here)

A Cain grand slam (very much a highlight)

Terrence Gore’s first career home run (I DIDN’T SAY ALL HIGHLIGHTS WERE MLB)

The five home runs were the most by the KC Royals since 2003 (against Minnesota). The nine runs in the eighths inning were their most since 2006 (against Cleveland). The Twitter excitement was… maybe not 2015 levels, but still. Folks were pumped.

(Aybar singled home Cory Spangenberg in the eighth. Didn’t matter.)

Five KC Royals—Merrifield, Cain, Hosmer, Escobar and Alex Gordon—had multi-hit games. Cain finished with five RBI in his fourth career multi-homer game.

Next: Sunny San Diego

Jake Junis and Dinelson Lamet close out the series Sunday. One has an ERA north of 5.00, the other just south of 7.00. Looking forward to a 3:40 p.m. (CT) slugfest.