Royals' bats erupt for 15 runs, chasing Phils ace Sánchez in 4th inning

KANSAS CITY -- Baseball is a crazy game, because sometimes a team that has largely struggled this season faces a National League Cy Young Award candidate who has a strong chance to start the All-Star Game… and they score nine runs on him before the fourth inning ends.

Take your odds, expected stats and predictions, and throw them out the window. Now we can present Monday’s game at Kauffman Stadium.

Against one of the best pitchers in baseball this season in Cristopher Sánchez, the Royals scored six in the first inning and forced the Phillies’ ace out of the game after 3 1/3 innings, not letting up in their 15-1 rout to earn a series victory. Monday’s 15 runs were more than the 12 the Royals scored total in the first five games of this homestand, which began with a three-game sweep by the Rays. The Royals’ 22 hits and 15 runs were season highs, and they scored in the first eight innings of a game for just the second time in franchise history (Sept. 14, 1998 vs. the Athletics).

“It’s awesome,” second baseman Nick Loftin said with a smile. “Any time we can score and keep scoring, it definitely helps our pitchers out, but it [also] adds confidence to our lineup that we know we can hang with the best of them.”

After Royals starter Noah Cameron tossed a 31-pitch first inning, the Royals faced an uphill battle against Sánchez. The lefty was 10-3 entering Monday with a 2.00 ERA, and had allowed just 13 runs in his previous 11 starts, during which he had a 1.53 ERA across 76 2/3 innings.

“He’s one of those guys, like, his numbers -- they speak for themselves,” catcher Luke Maile said. “Just watching some of his video coming in, it’s pretty nasty.”

When Lane Thomas led off with a four-pitch walk, things got interesting. Bobby Witt Jr. beat out a double-play ball, Salvador Perez singled, and the Phillies’ defense didn’t help when they couldn’t turn another double play on Jac Caglianone’s grounder, leading to the first run.

Nick Loftin, Starling Marte and Tyler Tolbert followed with two-out hits. Then Maile, on the roster because Perez is dealing with elbow soreness that has limited his catching recently, lifted a three-run home run in his first big league at-bat this season.

“It’s always defense first and all that, but when I can deliver a big hit like that, especially early and deliver a big blow, that’s super meaningful,” Maile said.

Sánchez’s best pitch, his changeup, has been nearly unhittable this season with a .142 average and .179 slugging percentage against it entering Monday. The Royals crushed it with seven hard-hit balls, including three homers, and an average exit velocity of 94.7 mph.

“The only thing we knew collectively is we’re going to have to get him up in the zone,” Maile said. “Just from the jump, it felt like everybody was really dialed [in]. Some of the stuff he left up and out over [the plate] was a little flat, and we just didn’t miss.”

And they just kept going even with Sánchez out of the game, all while Cameron continued to grind through his start with just the one run allowed despite 105 pitches needed through five innings.

Seven Royals logged multi-hit games, including Loftin, who reached base five times. Tolbert, who is here for his speed, hit his first home run of the season, too, as part of his first career five-hit game that had him just a triple away from the cycle. With Tolbert’s single off position player Garrett Stubbs in the eighth inning, he logged the first five-hit game by a Royal since Hunter Dozier on May 13, 2022, at Colorado.

“I’ve had one [five-hit game], but it was back in college,” Tolbert said. “... And I definitely didn’t hit a home run. It was awesome. That was a good day.”

As difficult as this season has been for the Royals -- and as tough as this stretch has been with injuries, roster moves, and at times, simply trying to survive games -- they’re still trying to compete. That makes wins like Monday all the more fun.

“Yeah, it’s been a tough slog here for a while, wins and loss-wise, but it doesn’t change their attitude, the character, the preparation,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s a big league game out there every single day against good competition, and the guys understand that. It has not gone our way, or the way we would have liked, but that doesn’t change who they are and what they’re made of and how they go out there and compete.”