Game Recap: Royals outslug Cubs to win series

David Banks - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 1 day ago

CHICAGO - For a team not known for a ton of slug, the Kansas City Royals (50-53) certainly took it to the Chicago Cubs (60-42) this week, as they beat them at their own game. Hoping to take their second consecutive series at Wrigley Field after the break, the Royals had other plans as the fourth-worst offense in the game had other plans and instead looked like the fourth-best offense.

For the second time in the series, it was the Royals playing long ball as they connected for four more homers after launching four homers in game one. All four of the homers were two-run bombs, which is all Seth Lugo would need, as the Royals doubled up the Cubs 8-4 to claim the series. When it comes to Lugo, he has been mentioned frequently over the past month as a trade candidate, and the Cubs are one of the teams that have been monitoring him.

While this loss wasn't what the Cubs had hoped for, they got to see firsthand how good Lugo can be, as he gave the Royals six strong innings of two-run baseball, walking two and striking out six, with his ERA falling to 2.96. This was also a case of Lugo getting stronger as the game went on, as he struck out the final five hitters he faced to kill any momentum and kept the Cubs off balance throughout.

The same can't be said for Colin Rea, who continues to try and give the Cubs quality starts every five days. Once again, you saw the good version of Rea when it came to limiting the hard contact, but with three homers allowed in five innings, the right-hander put his team in a hole that they couldn't get out of.

Vinnie Pasquantino played a significant role in the Royals' overall success, coming away with three hits in five at-bats while also drawing a walk. Two of his three hits were home runs, including the game's first homer in the first inning that put the Royals on top 2-0. They would never look back as this was one of the rare games where the Cubs not only failed to hold the lead, but couldn't do much to battle back.

With Lugo struggling to settle in during the early stages of this one, the time was now for the Cubs to pounce, as he is one of those pitchers you need to get to early. Ian Happ took that to heart by working a leadoff walk to begin the second before advancing to second on the Dansby Swanson single. Lugo nearly managed to wiggle out of that jam, getting Nico Hoerner to ground into a double play, but it was Reese McGuire coming through as his RBI single made this a 2-1 game.

That is the closest the Cubs would get at any point, as they couldn't stop the suddenly slugging Royals, who looked like the 1950 Yankees this week. Still holding a 2-1 lead in the third, it was the top of the Royals order doing the damage again as Pasquantino continued his great day with a one-out double. A Salvador Perez homer followed that to make this a 4-1 game as Perez added three homers throughout this series.

Once again, it was the Cubs finding a way to battle back after a Royals homer as the leadoff hit by pitch to Michael Busch gave the Cubs a baserunner, only to have the next two hitters retired. All was not lost, however, as Carson Kelly came inches away from hitting a homer himself, but had to settle for an RBI double that made this a 4-2 game.

Despite his struggles to keep the ball in the yard, Rea continued to battle, and with one out in the fifth, he was in line to minimize the damage. That was until Maikel Garcia got him for a one-out single, and then turned that into a double by stealing second base. Having Garcia on base clearly frustrated Rea as he paid too much attention to him at second and not enough to Pasquantino, who got Rea for the second time in the game, putting the Royals in front 6-2.

That would be all for Rea on the afternoon as he finished off the fifth without further damage before handing things off to the pen. The first man out was Drew Pomeranz, who, although he has been struggling as of late, has still put together a great season. This was one of those games where you saw how fast things can go south as Pomeranz came one pitch away from getting out of the sixth only to hit Kyle Isbel to extend the inning.

Tyler Tolbert made Pomeranz pay for that as he took him deep for the Royals' final homer of the afternoon to push their lead out to 8-2. For Tolbert, that was a memorable home run, as it was his first career long ball, and it came in one of the most historic venues in MLB history. After retiring the final nine hitters he faced, five coming on strikeouts, Lugo was lifted in the seventh, which had to be a breath of fresh air for the Cubs.

Over the next two innings, the Cubs did their best to keep things close as Matt Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong connected for a pair of solo shots as the Cubs pulled within 8-4 late. They wouldn't get any closer as Lucas Erceg came in to retire the Cubs in order in the ninth, clinching the series victory for the Royals with an 8-4 win.

Chicago had seven hits from seven different players in the loss, and was down Kyle Tucker, who got the day off. Chicago will now enjoy an off day on Thursday before taking on the White Sox for the second round of the Crosstown Cup this weekend.