CINCINNATI – Nick Loftin belted his first home run of the season in a three-run ninth as the Royals claimed the rubber game of the three-game series with a 5-2 win over the Reds on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.
It was just the sixth series-finale win in 20 tries this season for the Royals, who won their first road series since sweeping the Mariners in Seattle from May 1-3.
Loftin’s home run came after Michael Massey’s 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a tiebreaking single to right, scoring pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert to make it 3-2. All three runs in the ninth came off Cincinnati fill-in closer Tony Santillan (1-3), who took the loss.
Daniel Lynch IV (2-0) pitched around a two-out double by Dane Myers in a scoreless eighth to earn the win. Alex Lange earned his first save since May 1, 2024, with Detroit with a scoreless ninth. Lange allowed a leadoff double by Spencer Steer and a two-out walk to pinch-hitter Noelvi Marte before retiring Blake Dunn to end the game.
The Royals were lining rockets off Cincinnati starter Chase Burns all over Great American Ball Park in the first four innings but couldn’t break through for anything more than a first-inning homer from Vinnie Pasquantino, a laser down the right-field line that landed on the netting covering the Royals’ bullpen. It came after Bobby Witt Jr. worked a four-pitch walk.
Pasquantino drove Burns’ 98 mph fastball over the wall for his sixth homer to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Kansas City scored first in all three games in the series. The Royals had a golden opportunity to add to the lead in the fourth when Salvador Perez and Jac Caglianone opened with singles. But Isaac Collins and Massey fanned, and Loftin flied out to center.
Caglianone’s single would be the final hit against Burns and the last Royals hit until Pasquantino’s two-out single in the eighth.