Five-run first holds up for Royals in 6-4 win over the Dodgers

After an hour rain delay, the Royals put up five runs in the first inning against Julio Urias and were able to hold on for a 6-4 win over the Dodgers on Saturday night to even the series. The Royals scored three runs on sacrifice flies and scored six times on just seven hits.

The Royals jumped all over Urias in the opening frame without having to hit the ball very hard. Maikel Garcia led off with a double - the only hard hit ball of the inning - and moved to third on a single by Bobby Witt Jr. Witt tried to steal second and Dodgers second baseman Miguel Vargas went to cover, so when Salvador Perez popped up to just beyond where the second baseman would typically play, Vargas was out of position and the pop fly fell harmlessly to score Garcia. After a Nick Pratto walk, Edward Olivares popped to shallow center, but Bobby Witt Jr. was able to score to make it 2-0.

Urias continued to labor, plunking Matt Duffy to load the bases. Samad Taylor’s sacrifice fly scored the third run of the inning. Drew Waters’ bloop single scored two more to make it 5-0 after one inning.

Daniel Lynch immediately gave some of those runs back in the second, however. He initially fell behind the first few hitters, and gave up an RBI double to Yonny Hernandez. Mookie Betts drove home a second run on a sacrifice fly, and Freddie Freeman made it a three-run inning with an RBI single. Lynch pitched around some trouble in the third, but settled down after that, lasting five innings and striking out four with three walks and just the three runs allowed.

The Royals would add another run in the seventh manufactured out of basically nothing. Dairon Blanco hit a grounder to first but reached when pitcher Ryan Brasier could not handle the throw from Freddie Freeman for an error. Blanco stole second and third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Witt to make it 6-3 Royals.

Taylor Clarke gave up a run in the eighth, but Scott Barlow came in to escape the jam to preserve the 6-4 lead. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his tenth save of the year (hope you contenders were paying attention!)

The Royals improve to 24-59 and have a chance to take the series against the mighty Dodgers tomorrow afternoon with Brady Singer scheduled to face Tony Gonsolin at 1:10 CT.