Jose Iglesias’ RBI infield single in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday lifted the San Diego Padres to a 3-2 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals.
Luis Arraez started the winning rally with a leadoff single off Daniel Lynch IV (3-2) and Xander Bogaerts lined a one-out double to left-center to push Arraez to third. Kansas City inserted John Schneider to face Iglesias but he slapped an 0-2 pitch up the middle. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. gloved it but his off-balance throw home wasn’t in time.
Robert Suarez (2-3) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win, getting help from his defense. Freddy Fermin ripped a two-out double to right-center after Drew Waters walked. But Waters was called out at home for running out of the baseline after missing the plate as he dove to avoid the tag of catcher Elias Diaz.
Iglesias pinch-hit in the seventh inning and tied the game on a two-run single to right. That hit no-decisioned both starters after strong outings.
Kansas City’s Seth Lugo allowed just two hits and a run in 6 1/3 innings with no walks and seven strikeouts, while San Diego’s Randy Vasquez pitched a season-high seven innings, yielding five hits and two runs with two walks and two strikeouts.
The first 6 1/2 innings were dominated completely by pitching, except for a mistake in the top of the sixth by Vasquez. After Vinnie Pasquantino’s one-out single, Salvador Perez pounced on a cutter that drifted over the middle. He yanked it an estimated 412 feet over the wall in left-center, his ninth homer.
Lugo mowed down 18 straight hitters after Fernando Tatis Jr. slapped a leadoff single in the first. But the Padres got a leadoff double from Jackson Merrill in the seventh, then tied it against the Royals’ bullpen.
Angel Zerpa issued two-out walks to Gavin Sheets and Bogaerts to fill the bases. After Iglesias was announced as a pinch-hitter for Jake Cronenworth, Kansas City lifted Zerpa for Lucas Erceg. But Iglesias poked an 0-2 pitch to right to score Merrill and Sheets, evening the score at 2.
–Field Level Media
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