SAN DIEGO (AP) — Vinnie Pasquantino hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Yu Darvish and the Kansas City Royals beat the struggling San Diego Padres 4-3 Wednesday to take two of three in the series.
Pasquantino's homer to right field, his eighth, and Maikel Garcia's RBI double gave the Royals a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning.
Many in the crowd of 32,416 booed the Padres after Scott Barlow retired the side in the ninth for his sixth save. San Diego’s star-studded lineup went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 overall as the Padres lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
The Padres, closer to last in the NL West than they are first, were without slugger Manny Machado for a second straight day after he was hit by a pitch on the left hand in Monday night’s 4-0 win.
San Diego's offensive woes continued despite Kansas City needing a bullpen day. The Padres scored twice in the sixth to pull to 4-3, but Fernando Tatis Jr., moved down to third in the lineup, popped out weakly with the bases loaded to end the inning.
The Padres loaded the bases with one out in the seventh against Aroldis Chapman, but Trent Grisham struck out for the fourth straight time and then a wild pitch by Chapman caromed off the backstop right back to catcher Salvador Perez, who easily tagged out Juan Soto trying to score, ending the inning.
Royals opener Carlos Hernández held the Padres to two hits in two scoreless innings while striking out four.
The Padres’ recurring woes with runners in scoring position intensified against Mike Mayers, who came on to start the third and made his Royals debut after having his contract selected from Triple-A Omaha. Tatis came up with runners on first and second with one out in the third and grounded into a double play.
Mayers got out of a huge jam in the fourth when he loaded the bases with one out, on a single and consecutive walks, before striking out Grisham and Austin Nola to elicit boos from the crowd.
Jake Cronenworth homered to right in the fifth, his fourth, to tie the game at 1 before the Padres scored two more in the sixth on a bases-loaded balk against Jose Cuas and Xander Bogaerts' RBI infield single. The Padres loaded the bases again but Tatis popped up to end the inning.
MJ Melendez hit an RBI double for the Royals in the fourth.
Josh Taylor (1-1) got two outs for the win.
Darvish (2-3) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Royals: Transferred LHP Ryan Yarbrough (skull fractures) to the 60-day injured list. Placed LHP Amir Garrett on the family medical emergency list.
UP NEXT
Royals: RHP Zack Greinke (1-4, 5.01 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at the Chicago White Sox, who will counter with RHP Michael Kopech (1-4, 5.74).
Padres: LHP Blake Snell (1-5, 4.61) is set to start Friday night in the opener of a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox, who will go with LHP James Paxton (0-0, 3.60).
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