Home runs by Taylor and Perez spark offensive explosion as KC Royals beat Padres 15-7

The Kansas City Royals scored eight total runs in the first two games of their series against the San Diego Padres, but they tallied that many runs in a pair of big innings against the Padres on Sunday ... and they weren’t through.

Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor and catcher Salvador Perez each sent baseballs sailing into the stands for home runs, while the offense scored in multiple ways and with varied contributions in a 15-7 win over the Padres in the finale of their three-game series in front of an announced crowd of 12,584 at Kauffman Stadium.

“They had good at-bats all day,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We talk about grinding through at-bats. We saw deep counts. We saw foul balls. We took walks, passed it to the next guys and then got big hits. And the big hits were the difference in the game today.”

That gaudy run total represented a season-high for the Royals, and the offensive outburst helped them avoid being swept in the three-game series. They finished their homestand 3-3 and will begin a six-game road trip Tuesday night.

Eight Royals players collected hits, 10 scored and seven drove in runs. They also stole three bases and amassed 18 hits, which matched their season high.

“We saw good situational hitting,” Matheny said. “We saw good at-bats from multiple guys today, just about everybody in the lineup. Then a couple of guys that came in off the bench figured out ways to contribute. It was just one of those relentless-push offensive days.

“We’ve had that a couple times now where we do something big early, and then they make their adjustment. They did today too, but to figure out a way to keep putting the pressure on, it’s fun to watch this group do that.”

The Royals’ previous season high of 14 runs and 18 hits came in a win over the Colorado Rockies in Denver, on May 13.

The previous night, the Royals scored three first-inning runs, but were held without a run for the rest of the night in a one-run loss.

On Sunday, the Royals kept the pedal down offensively.

Perez went 3 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBIs for the Royals (52-77), while Taylor went 3 for 6 with a run scored and four RBIs. Perez’s 18th home run of the season tied him with rookie infielder Bobby Witt Jr. for the team lead.

Royals third baseman Hunter Dozier enjoyed a four-hit day (3 for 5) that included a double and three runs scored as well as a pair of stolen bases.

Infielder Nicky Lopez (2 for 4, RBI), rookie outfielder Drew Waters (2 for 3, two runs scored, two walks, two RBIs) and catcher Sebastian Rivero (2 for 4) had two hits apiece.

The Padres (70-59) finished the game with a position player, former Royals prospect Wil Myers, on the mound pitching in the eighth inning.

“We just tried to get our jobs done,” Perez said. “That’s part of the game too. Every time we have opportunities to bring some guys home, we try to do our best. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. But I think it’s part of the game. If you compete and you give everything you have, I think you’re doing a pretty good job.”

Taylor gets the Royals off to a fast start

Royals starting pitcher Jonathan Heasley allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks in five innings. He also matched a career high with seven strikeouts.

A solo home run by Manny Machado with two outs in the top of the first inning gave the Padres an early advantage. But that was short-lived.

The Royals sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning and half of them scored against Padres starter and former Royals draft pick Sean Manaea (34th overall, 2013). The Royals traded Manaea to the Oakland Athletics in the 2015 deal that brought Ben Zobrist to KC.

The bottom of the first started with Taylor’s first leadoff home run as a member of the club. Taylor batted leadoff for just the third time this season, and he hammered a 1-2 slider 410 feet to left-center field for his seventh home run of the season.

“Just protecting,” Taylor said of his approach. “I wasn’t really trying to guess with him. Sit on the fastball, trying to hit it the other way and wait back on everything else.”

Taylor’s homer came off the bat at 101 mph, but he said doubted he’d hit it well enough for it to get out of the ballpark.

“I didn’t think I did,” Taylor said. “It’s not too often that this field is fair. Anything in the air, if it’s not 110 (mph) I’m thinking it’s probably off the wall.”

The homer wasn’t even Taylor’s hardest hit ball of the day, that actually came on a 108.6-mph lineout to left field to end the first inning.

That inning also included RBIs by Brent Rooker, which snapped a personal 0-for-16 drought, as well as Nick Pratto, Waters and Lopez. Waters’ RBI double marked his first extra-base hit in the majors.

The Royals swatted seven hits in the inning and forced Padres manager Bob Melvin to get a relief pitcher warming up in the bullpen in the first inning.

“I felt like we did a good job of just putting together good at-bats,” Taylor said. “Then when we got the line moving, just trying to keep it moving. Guys weren’t up there swinging for the fences. Just trying to get it to the next guy.”

Keeping the runs coming

The Padres eventually cut into that lead against Heasley, but the Royals’ offense kept rolling.

The Padres scored an unearned run in the third after Lopez failed to field a grounder that should have been the third out of the inning.

After the Royals tacked on a run in the fourth on a Taylor RBI single, the Padres responded with two more runs in the fifth on Machado’s second home run of the day. The two-run blast pulled the Padres within two runs. It would have been a three-run homer if the Royals hadn’t picked off Luis Campusano at second base for the second out of the inning.

The Royals’ next big inning came in the sixth when they scored three runs on just one hit, an error and three walks. Perez’s two-run homer, a 415-foot smash to left field, got the Royals total to eight runs.

Dozier, who singled, stole second and third. The throw to third base from Padres catcher Campusano veered into left field and allowed Dozier to score the inning’s third run and give the Royals their ninth of the day.

After the Padres chipped away with two runs in the seventh against reliever Anthony Misiewicz, the Royals continued their onslaught with a six-run eighth inning. It included a bases-loaded two-run double smoked into right-center by Pratto to assure the Padres’ comeback hopes were futile.