Triston McKenzie struggles again, Royals rout Guardians

Salvador Perez hit a long home run and had two RBIs as the Kansas City Royals routed the visiting Cleveland Guardians 10-3 on Friday night.

Perez led off the second inning with a 447-foot blast to left, his 13th home run of the season. Hunter Renfroe sliced his eighth homer to right for a 2-1 Royals lead and their third set of back-to-back homers in 2024.

With one out in the third, Maikel Garcia singled and stole second and Bobby Witt Jr. was intentionally walked before Vinnie Pasquantino delivered an RBI single.

Perez added a run-scoring single to left, surpassing Mike Sweeney for fourth on the Royals' all-time RBI list at Kauffman Stadium with 438. After Guardians starter Triston McKenzie exited, MJ Melendez capped the three-run third with a bases-loaded infield hit as Kansas City led 5-1.

McKenzie (3-5) allowed five runs on five hits and three walks in 2⅔ innings. His 19 home runs and 49 walks allowed both lead the majors.

Kyle Isbel's one-out homer in the fourth — his sixth — gave the Royals a 6-1 advantage. Freddy Fermin's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the fifth made it 7-1.

Garcia scored on a wild pitch in the eighth, then Pasquantino's ninth homer, a two-run shot, capped the scoring.

After recording no RBIs during a recent nine-game road trip, Pasquantino has an RBI in each of the five games of Kansas City's homestand. His 40 home-game RBIs lead the American League.

The Royals have won three straight and four of their last five.

With two out in the first, Cleveland's Jose Ramírez opened the scoring with his 22nd homer, taking Alec Marsh's slider 436 feet out to right.

Marsh (6-5) finished six innings, allowing a run on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Tyler Freeman's seventh-inning RBI grounder and Daniel Schneemann's eighth-inning sacrifice fly cut the Guardians' deficit to 7-3.

David Fry had three hits for Cleveland, which has dropped six consecutive road games against Kansas City.

The Guardians grounded into three double plays while losing their third straight.