Salvador Perez and Lane Thomas hit 2-run HRs, Royals beat Padres 6-1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez and Lane Thomas homered to help the Kansas City Royals beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 on Saturday.

Thomas hit a 421-foot two-run home run to left field off Griffin Canning in the first and Perez added a two-run shot, his 12th this season, to center field that capped the scoring in the sixth.

Perez, a 36-year-old catcher, has 315 career home runs, two shy of the franchise record held by Hall of Famer George Brett.

Jac Caglianone’s run-scoring double in the third extended his hit streak to nine games. Isaac Collins added an RBI single in the fourth and Vinnie Pasquantino singled to extend an on-base streak to 14 games.

Randy Dobnak allowed one run and four hits in 4 1/3 innings for the Royals. Daniel Lynch IV (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win.

Canning (1-8) allowed four runs and five hits with four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a solo shot to left field in the third, walked twice and had a stolen base. Tatis has reached safely in 33 of his last 36 games.

Ty France and Jake Cronenworth each had two hits.

San Diego had six hits, went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and hit into three double plays.

The Royals clinched their 10th series win of the season. Kansas City won a series against the Padres for the first time since 2023 and took a set from San Diego at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since 2002.

Up next

Padres RHP Germán Márquez (4-2, 5.18 ERA) starts Sunday in the series finale opposite LHP Noah Cameron (5-7, 4.89).

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb