Kansas City Royals vs San Francisco Giants Match Player Stats On Jun 14, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 14, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Kansas City Royals continued their hot hitting on their West Coast trip, banging out 16 more hits in a 7-2 win to complete a sweep of the struggling San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon.

Mike Moustakas, Jorge Bonifacio and Lorenzo Cain each belted a home run to back the strong pitching of right-hander Jason Hammel. The victory was the Royals' third in four interleague meetings this season with the team that beat them in the 2014 World Series.

In beating the Giants for first time in 13 career meetings, Hammel scattered eight hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four, pitching Kansas City to its fourth straight win.

Hammel (3-6) pitched with a lead after Moustakas crushed a Johnny Cueto pitch well over the right field wall leading off the second inning. His 18th homer of the season one-hopped into the San Francisco Bay.

The homers by Bonifacio and Cain came back-to-back in the third inning. Bonifacio's ninth was a two-run shot that also plated Whit Merrifield, who had singled, and Cain followed two pitches later with his seventh of the season, increasing the Kansas City lead to 4-0.

The back-to-back homers were the fifth of the season for the Royals and second of their five-game Western swing. Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez hit consecutive homers Saturday in San Diego.

The Royals knocked out Cueto in the sixth with an RBI double by Bonifacio after another single by Merrifield.

Cueto (5-6) gave up five runs and a season-high 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out five.

Alcides Escobar, Cain and Merrifield, who scored three times, finished with three hits apiece the Royals, who have totaled 38 runs in opening their nine-game trip with four wins in five outings.

Kansas City opens a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

Bonifacio recorded three RBIs, and Moustakas and Cain drove in two runs apiece for the Royals, who improved to 4-1 in interleague play this season.

Denard Span, Eduardo Nunez and Joe Panik had two hits apiece for the Giants, who lost for the seventh time in their last eight home games and 11th time in their last 15 games overall.

The Giants totaled 10 hits.

NOTES: Royals 3B Mike Moustakas has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, going 19-for-50 (.380) over that stretch with five homers and 14 RBIs. ... Moustakas' 18th home run of the season got him halfway to 1B Steve Balboni's club record of 36 set in 1985. The Royals won't reach the midpoint of the season until July 2. ... Royals SS Alcides Escobar's bad throw in the ninth inning ended Kansas City's four-game errorless streak. The Royals have committed a major-league-low 22 errors this season. ... The back-to-back home runs allowed by Giants RHP Johnny Cueto were the ninth of his career. He's allowed two or more home runs in a game 39 times. ... After completing a 1-4 homestand of all interleague games, the Giants open an eight-game trip at Colorado on Thursday night.