Ty France hits grand slam and solo HR, Jackson Merrill also hits 2 HRs as Padres beat Royals 19-2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ty France hit a grand slam and a solo shot, Jackson Merrill also homered twice, and the San Diego Padres beat the Kansas City Royals 19-2 on Sunday.

Tatis Jr. homered for the second consecutive game, singled and drove in four runs.

France’s slam gave San Diego a 13-2 lead in the eighth inning.

Merrill hit a 405-foot homer, his 11th of the season, in the fourth inning and had a two-run shot in the ninth off position player Tyler Tolbert. After Randy Vásquez grounded out, France added a solo homer off Tolbert.

Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone hit his 16th homer of the season to open the scoring in the first and extend his hit streak to a career-high 10 games.

The Royals had the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth inning when Yuki Matsui relieved Germán Márquez. Matsui struck out Carter Jensen swinging and then got Nick Loftin to hit into a 5-4-3 double play to get out of the jam.

Márquez pitched three innings and allowed two runs. Matsui (1-1) threw two no-hit innings and had three strikeouts.

Noah Cameron (5-8) allowed seven earned runs and nine hits over five innings.

Bobby Witt Jr. didn’t play due to back tightness, according to manager Matt Quatraro.

Kansas City placed Stephen Kolek on the 15-day injured list (right flexor strain) earlier Sunday after the right-hander exited his rehab start on Saturday.

Up next

Padres LHP JP Sears (2-2, 5.03 ERA) starts Monday to open a four-game series against the Braves in Atlanta.

Royals LHP Michael Wacha (5-7, 3.77 ERA) takes the mound Monday in the first of three home games against San Francisco.