Merrifield’s first homer lifts Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Whit Merrifield hit his first career homer, Edinson Volquez tossed seven innings of twohit ball and the Kansas City Royals beat Cleveland 2-1 on Monday night to end a five-game skid against the Indians.
Alcides Escobar also drove in a run for the Royals, who have won three in a row after an eight-game losing streak.
Volquez (6-6) walked the bases loaded in the first inning before settling down, allowing only a double to Jason Kipnis and a single to Lonnie Chisenhall. Volquez also hit a batter with a pitch and worked around an error, but ultimately kept the Indians from scoring.
Kelvin Herrera allowed a leadoff homer to Kipnis in the eighth but navigated the rest of the inning, and Wade Davis pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth for his 18th save.
Carlos Carrasco (2-2) gave up both Kansas City runs and 10 hits over six innings.
Merrifield, who made his big league debut last month, tripled to start the game and scored when Escobar followed with a single. Then the 27-year-old rookie lived up to his “Two-hit Whit” moniker by driving an 0-2 pitch over the left-field wall with two outs in the fourth.
Merrifield, considered a superutility player, also helped turn a trio of double plays while getting another start at second base. One of them ended the eighth inning and preserved a 2-1 lead.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Reds 9, Braves 8 at Atlanta: Tyler Holt’s bases-loaded walk off closer Arodys Vizcaino forced in the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning and Cincinnati beat Atlanta in a matchup of teams with the worst records in the National League.
Five Braves pitchers combined for eight walks, including three by Vizcaino (1-2) in the ninth.
Adam Duvall hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for the Reds.
Ross Ohlendorf (5-5) allowed one run in the eighth on two hits and two walks.
Tony Cingrani pitched the ninth for his seventh save in 12 chances.
INTERLEAGUE
Phillies 7, Blue Jays 0 at Toronto: Ryan Howard and Odubel Herrera homered, Jerad Eickhoff pitched six spotless innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season, and Philadelphia snapped a fourgame losing streak.
Herrera went 2 for 5 with three RBIs as the Phillies won for the third time in 13 meetings with Toronto. Peter Bourjos had two hits and two RBIs for Philadelphia, which had lost 17 of 22 overall.
Eickhoff (4-8) allowed three hits. He walked four and struck out five.
David Hernandez pitched the seventh, Hector Neris handled the eighth and Andrew Bailey finished the six-hitter.
Toronto scored 21 runs in winning its previous two games but did not manage an extra-base hit against the Phillies.