Philadelphia Phillies at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Philadelphia Phillies

74-54, 32-31 Away

Final
4 - 7

Kansas City Royals

72-56, 41-26 Home

Perez, Renfroe hit 2-run shots during 5-run frame, Royals beat Phillies 7-4 to open interleague set

Perez parlayed his success in a Wiffle ball game against neighborhood kids a day earlier into a three-RBI night. Paul DeJong and Vinnie Pasquantino also drove in runs, helping the Royals close within a game of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.

“The Wiffle ball yesterday got me ready for today,” joked Perez, who also went over 900 RBI for his career. “Pretty good night.”

Michael Wacha (11-6) ran his winning streak to seven straight decisions, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings while striking out five. He hasn't lost since June 22, and he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a start since June 4.

Lucas Erceg worked around a leadoff double in the ninth for his 10th save and fourth since his trade to Kansas City.

“It was hard work," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “They're always going to make you work. That's a talented team.”

The troubles continued for the Phillies' Taijuan Walker (3-5), though. The veteran allowed six runs on eight hits and a walk in just three innings, and has now surrendered 30 runs on 43 hits and 18 walks over 38 innings in his eight starts.

“In the third, everything was in the middle of the plate. It was command,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who declined to say whether Walker would make his next scheduled start. “It's more attacking the hitters, but then you don't want to be in the middle of the plate all the time. It's one of those things. He gets behind and then he has to come to the middle.”

Kansas City certainly made it a rude return to the area for Thomson. He played his college ball down Interstate 70 at Kansas, where his .369 average from 1983-85 remains tied for the fifth-best in school history.

Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh drove in the runs for Philadelphia.

The Royals began a stretch of 20 games against teams that currently hold playoff positions, including the Phillies, who began the day with a six-game cushion in the NL East. And they did it in style, racing to a 6-1 lead after their big third inning.

The Royals were still leading 7-2 in the eighth when Philadelphia tried to rally off Kris Bubic. Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm and Castellanos reached on one-out singles, and Harper scored on a wild pitch. But Bubic bounced back to get Stott to hit a sacrifice fly and got J.T. Realmuto on a groundout, preserving the Royals' three-run lead.

Erceg handled it from there as Kansas City won for the seventh time in its last eight games.

“It was nice to get the first game out of the series for sure,” Wacha said. “We're not looking ahead too far. Our mentality is to win today and worry about tomorrow when it gets here. We all feel we have a really good team to do something special.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Phillies: OF Austin Hayes (left hamstring strain) was reinstated from the injured list and started in left field. OF Cal Stevenson was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to make room for him on the roster.

Royals: RHP Hunter Harvey (back tightness) was planning to see doctors Friday after having two good days in the hopes of formulating a throwing plan. He received an injection Tuesday after experiencing a setback a day earlier.

Phillies: LHP Ranger Suárez is expected to return Saturday night from the injured list, where he's been since late July with lower back soreness.

Royals: RHP Brady Singer (9-8, 3.18 ERA) will try to build off six shutout innings against the Reds.

How can I watch Philadelphia Phillies vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: Phillies at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Matchup Prediction

Royals: 63.1%

Phillies: 36.9%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Turner struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Schwarber flied out to left, Marsh to third.
	9th Inning	Hays flied out to left.
	9th Inning	Marsh doubled to right.
	9th Inning	Erceg relieved Bubic
	9th Inning	Garcia at second base.

Statistics

PHI		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
14	Ground Balls	13
8	Strikeouts	4
3	Runs Batted In	7
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
11	Hits	12
0	Stolen Bases	1
0	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	7
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
37	At Bats	36
0	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
17	Runners Left On Base	15
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	3
16	Fly Balls	19
0	Caught Stealing	0
144	Pitches	171
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	1
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
14	Total Bases	21
38	Plate Appearances	39
0.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
3	Extra Base Hits	5
3.8	Runs Created	8.0
.297	Batting Average	.333
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.500
.378	Slugging Percentage	.583
.081	Secondary Average	.361
.289	On Base Percentage	.385
.668	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.968
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.7
3.6	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	9.0
31.0	Batter Rating	53.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	18.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.79	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.38
.081	Isolated Power	.250
0.00	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.75
.000	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.077
-.216	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.028
7.0	Runs Produced	14.0
0.8	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.6
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.3
82.8	MLB Rating	100.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0