Miami Marlins at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Miami Marlins

28-52, 12-25 Away

Final
1 - 5

Kansas City Royals

44-38, 27-15 Home

Perez highlights 5-run, 2-out rally in eighth with RBI double as Royals rally to beat Marlins, 5-1

Angel Zerpa (1-0) got the final two outs of the eighth in relief of Brady Singer, who allowed an RBI single to Vidal Bruján in the second inning but little else on a sunny afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. James McArthur handled the ninth to finish it off.

“Just incredible,” Singer said. “For those guys to grind back, that's how we're going to win games.”

Indeed, Kansas City had been shut down by Valente Bellozo and the Miami bullpen until the eighth, when Bobby Witt Jr. started the rally with a triple off Huascar Brazoban (0-1). Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a tying single, and after pinch runner Dairon Blanco swiped second, Perez delivered the double that gave Kansas City the lead.

Nick Loftin added an RBI single and Freddy Fermin drove in two more runs to provide McArthur some breathing room.

“We had been pretty dead offensively,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Two outs, nobody on, right? Just the quality of what they were swinging at, too. The guys put some really good swings on it.”

The outbreak came after Kansas City had scored two runs or fewer in five of its last seven games.

“Momentum is huge, and that's who we are,” Witt said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Singer allowed five hits and a walk while striking out five, though he again was victimized by poor run support: The Royals have scored two runs or fewer in 12 of his 16 starts, and he has not won since May 19 against Oakland.

“The efficiency of him was the most impressive thing," said Quatraro, whose team had lost four straight series and been 2-7 in series-deciding games this season. “He wanted to keep going. He had it in his mind that he was going to carry us.”

Meanwhile, Bellozo was dominant in his big league debut for Miami, pitching five innings of two-hit ball.

The only bit of trouble the 24-year-old from Mexico ran into came in the second inning, and it wasn't entirely his fault: Hunter Renfroe hit a two-out single, then Bruján lost Fermin's popup in the sun and it landed for a double. But Bellozo promptly struck out Garrett Hampson to leave the runners on second and third.

He then retired his final 10 hitters before getting a swarm of high-fives in the Marlins dugout.

“I had a lot of adrenalin, a little nervous, but we controlled the game and did a really good job,” Bellozo said. ”Play with the zone, attack with the breaking balls and make all my pitches work.”

ROSTER MOVES

Marlins: LHP Kent Emanuel was designated for assignment to clear space for Bellozo on the roster. Emanuel had allowed eight runs, seven earned, while appearing in five games this season.

Marlins: Head to Philadelphia to open a four-game series Thursday night with Trevor Rogers (1-8, 4.90 ERA) on the mound.

Royals: Welcome Cleveland to town Thursday night with RHP Michael Wacha (4-6, 4.07) getting the start.

How can I watch Miami Marlins vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Marlins at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Royals: 66.4%

Marlins: 33.6%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Burger grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	J. Sánchez grounded out to third.
	9th Inning	Bell grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	McArthur relieved Zerpa
	9th Inning	Isbel in center field.
	9th Inning	Blanco as designated hitter.

Statistics

MIA		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
15	Ground Balls	7
6	Strikeouts	8
1	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
5	Hits	10
0	Stolen Bases	1
1	Walks	1
0	Catcher Interference	0
1	Runs	5
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
31	At Bats	34
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
4	Runners Left On Base	8
0	Triples	1
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	3
10	Fly Balls	19
1	Caught Stealing	0
120	Pitches	148
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
7	Total Bases	15
32	Plate Appearances	36
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
2	Extra Base Hits	4
0.5	Runs Created	5.2
.161	Batting Average	.294
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.226	Slugging Percentage	.441
.065	Secondary Average	.206
.188	On Base Percentage	.333
.413	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.775
1.5	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.4
0.5	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	5.9
13.0	Batter Rating	39.5
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.75	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.11
.065	Isolated Power	.147
0.17	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.13
.031	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.028
-.097	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.088
2.0	Runs Produced	10.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.4
65.0	MLB Rating	86.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0