The Royals had a chance to leave Thursday with back-to-back series wins, but the afternoon unraveled in the fifth inning and New York walked away with a 7-3 victory.
Kansas City actually held the lead twice. Lane Thomas opened the game by launching his seventh homer of the season, and after the Mets answered in the second, Bobby Witt Jr. put the Royals back in front in the fourth with his 13th home run. That edge didn’t last long once the game reached the bottom of the fifth.
Michael Wacha was on the mound for Kansas City, but the fifth inning turned into the breaking point. He worked 4-and-2/3 innings, allowing six hits, three walks, five strikeouts, and one home run. All six runs charged to him were earned, and the loss dropped him to 5-7.
The Mets started their big inning with Tyrone Taylor’s sixth homer of the year, which tied the game at 2-2. From there, the inning kept snowballing.
With the bases loaded and one out, Bo Bichette lifted a sacrifice fly to give New York the lead. Carson Benge then followed with a two-run bloop single, and Francisco Alvarez added an RBI single before Wacha was done, pushing the Mets ahead 6-2.
Kansas City tried to make something happen in the seventh. Nick Loftin singled, then scored on Jac Caglianone’s RBI double to cut it to 6-3.
Isaac Collins drew a walk, bringing up Tyler Tolbert with a chance to keep the inning alive. Instead, Tolbert bunted with two outs, and Luis Torrens handled it cleanly before throwing to first for the final out.
The Mets answered right away in the bottom of the inning when Juan Soto hit his 21st home run of the year to make it 7-3, and that was the final margin.
Loftin picked up another single in the ninth and finished as the only Royal with a multi-hit day. Outside of Soto’s homer off Beck Way, the bullpen kept New York quiet, but the damage had already been done by Wacha’s fifth-inning collapse.
The loss sends the Royals to 38-56 as they continue their East Coast trip Friday in Baltimore against the Orioles.
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