Royals offense finally wakes up, rolls over Cubs 13-2

The Royals offense burst out of its slump in support of Brad Keller in his first start back, dominating the Cubs in a 13-2 win.

It was Kansas City’s first win at home on the season.

Kansas City came out firing against Cubs starter Tyler Chatwood with a Ryan O’Hearn RBI single in the 1st and a two-run homer from Whit Merrifield in the 2nd to give Kansas City an early 3-0 lead. Having managed just five hits last night, the offense had six by the end of the 2nd inning tonight.

The early cushion was just what the doctor ordered for Keller, who made his first start of 2020. He came out breathing some fire as well, striking out three of the first seven Cub batters he faced.

The bottom of the Royals order broke it open in the 3rd. Alex Gordon doubles in Adalberto Mondesi to go up 4-0 before Maikel Franco’s two-run bomb made it a 6-0 game.

It was Franco’s second extra-base hit of the night. And to make matter even better, Nick Heath made it a 7-0 game on his first career hit, an RBI double.

A Salvador Perez double capped off a six-run inning and the Royals added two more in 5th to go up 11-0. Meanwhile, Keller cruised in his return from the IL, striking out seven Cubs in five innings of scoreless work.

The Royals added another run in the 8th for good measure. If you combine the 13 runs the Royals scored tonight with the 14 runs they scored against the Tigers back on July 27, those 27 runs account for 47% of their season total.

The Cubs avoided the shutout with two 9th inning runs off of Kevin McCarthy.

The win snapped a six-game losing streak and avoided a 7th straight loss to the Chicago baseball teams. It also dropped the Royals a half-game behind the Pirates in the Tank For Kumar Rocker sweepstakes, but who’s counting.

Up Next: Royals v. Twins, Friday, August 7, 7:05 PM CDT, Kauffman Stadium. RHP Jakob Junis (0-0, 4.15 ERA) v. LHP Devin Smeltzer (1-0, 11.57 ERA)