Kansas City Royals vs San Diego Padres Match Player Stats On Jun 09, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 10, 2017

SAN DIEGO -- Matt Szczur led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a pinch-hit home run Friday night to break a 2-2 tie and lead the San Diego Padres to a 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals in an interleague game at Petco Park.

Szczur drove a 2-and-1 fastball from left-handed Royals reliever Matt Strahm 385 feet into the left field stands for his second homer as a Padre.

San Diego added three runs in the eighth against former Padre Chris Young with Szczur again in the middle of the rally.

Erick Aybar singled with two outs and advanced to third on Szczur's double to left-center field. Pinch-hitter Franchy Cordero followed with a two-run double and scored when Yangervis Solarte's fly to right fell between Kansas City second baseman Whit Merrifield and right fielder Jorge Bonifacio for a single.

Szczur's heroics helped the Padres snap a five-game losing streak and made a winner of right-handed starter Jhoulys Chacin (5-5).

Chacin allowed only three hits and two walks with six strikeouts in seven innings, although one of the hits was a two-run, game-tying homer by catcher Salvador Perez in the fifth. Chacin took a no-hitter into the fifth when Eric Hosmer opened with a single followed by Perez's 12th homer of the season.

Strahm (1-3) suffered the loss for Kansas City.

The Padres scored single runs in each the first and second but squandered opportunities for more ... and it came back to bite them.

Jose Pirela opened the game with single but was immediately erased on a double play. Wil Myers, Hunter Renfroe and Austin Hedges followed with consecutive sharp singles off left-handed starter Eric Skoglund to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.

Cory Spangenberg opened the second with a single but was picked off first. Erick Aybar and Chacin followed with back-to-back doubles to make it 2-1.

After Skoglund walked Pirela and Yangervis Solarte, he was removed from the game in favor of left-handed reliever Scott Alexander, whose second pitch with the bases loaded bounced away from Salvador Perez. But the catcher recovered and caught Chacin off third. Myers then struck out.

Nine of the 11 Padres facing Skoglund reached base and the seven hits included two doubles. But there was a double play in the four-hit first inning and two runners were caught off base in the second.

Meanwhile, Chacin allowed only a walk through the first four innings thanks to several defensive gems by Aybar at short.

But Hosmer grounded a single to right past the dive of second baseman Solarte to open the fifth and Perez drove Chacin's next pitch 394 feet into the second deck in left for the game-tying homer.

The Royals loaded the bases on three straight singles with none out in the ninth but scored only one run. Brandon Maurer got his 10th save.

NOTES: The Padres optioned struggling 3B Ryan Schimpf to Triple-A El Paso and recalled RHP Jose Valdez from the Chihuahuas. Schimpf led the Padres with 14 homers but was hitting .158 with a .284 on-base percentage and 70 strikeouts in 165 at-bats. He was hitless in his last 10 at-bats with eight strikeouts. Valdez pitched three scoreless innings in his one appearance with the Padres earlier this season. ... Salvador Perez's two-run homer in the fifth inning was the 94th of his career, setting a record for Royals catchers. ... Friday night was the first of five straight interleague games for the Royals at National League West teams. They play two at San Francisco next Tuesday and Wednesday.