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Major Leagues
Join Date: Jun 2018
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SERIES RECAP: BREWERS
Five-game win streak snapped; Royals finish series atop the AL Central
By 3BPlay
04/06/2026
04/03 -- Royals win tight, one-run contest: Thanks to some outstanding pitching and a timely homerun, the Royals received \just\ enough offense to edge out the Brewers by a 1-0 score, winning their fourth straight game and clinching a winning homestand with two games to go.
Carter Jensen continued his white-hot start to the season, clubbing a 105-MPH line drive solo homerun to lead off the third inning against righty Chad Patrick. Kris Bubic and three relievers managed to hold Milwaukee off the scoreboard entirely, with the Brewers getting scant scoring opportunities at all. Milwaukee only advanced two runners past first base the entire game, and one of them was due to an error.
Bubic threw 6 1/3 shutout frames, striking out seven while scattering two hits and walks each. Matt Strahm recorded the final two outs of the seventh before handing the game over to Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estevez, who each pitched 1-2-3 innings to close out the game. Estevez did so with a couple of strikeouts, including Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich.
"Just an outstanding game in all facets," said manager Matt Quatraro. "We've shown so far we can win high-scoring games, and now winning the close ones where offense is at a premium, so I really like the direction we're going as of now."
Jensen was the only Royals' hitter to reach base safely more than one time, as he was 2-for-2 with a walk and a single in addition to his third-inning homerun. For good measure, he also stole a base, his first of the season and of his MLB career.
"Right now, the key with Carter is just to let him hit without the big worries of calling a game," Quatraro went on to say. "Salvy is the guy who will get the bulk of the catching duties early on, but Carter is going to get his opportunities as well to get back behind the dish, especially later when we'll need Sal fresh for the stretch run."
Former Royal Angel Zerpa faced his original team for the first time since coming over in a trade with the Brewers, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. He worked around Jensen's one-out single to get a strikeout of Lane Thomas and a flyout from Isaac Collins, who was one of the pieces that came to the Royals in that deal.
Code:
MIL at KC | 04/03/2026 | Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Milwaukee (4-3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Kansas City (4-2) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 4 1
Code:
W: Kris Bubic (1-0) L: Chad Patrick (0-1) S: Carlos Estevez (2)
MIL HR: None
KC HR: Carter Jensen (4)
Code:
MLB Scoreboard: April 3rd, 2026
STL 5, DET 4 | MIL 0, KC 1 | CIN 6, TEX 1 | SEA 1, LAA 4
TB 1, MIN 5 | CHC 3, CLE 1 | MIA 5, NYY 1 | BAL 3, PIT 6
SD 3, BOS 6 | HOU 2, ATH 9 | ATL 5, ARI 6 | LAD 12, WSH 6
PHI 6, COL 2 | NYM 9, SF 6 |
04/04 -- Perez powers massive Royals win with #300: Did you catch a home run yesterday? One lucky fan has (well, had) a prize possession after Salvador Perez crushed his 300th career home run tonight, although the fan did make out pretty well in the end.
The fan, who has asked the organization to not release his name, is a Brewers fan from the Kansas City area who ended up with the historic ball. Reportedly, the Royals offered him an undisclosed cash prize and free future game tickets and concession vouchers in exchange for the ball.
To sweeten the deal, Perez himself also offered the fan some signed, game-used catcher's equipment and an unused, signed bat in addition to the Royals' offer for the ball. The fan ultimately agreed to the terms, and walked away with a nice haul of swag in the end.
"That's one you would kind of like to keep," Perez said with a chuckle to reporters after the game. "I'd like to see what I can do to help."
Aside from the homerun, Perez collected four hits in the football-score-like game, where the Royals seemingly had the Brewers on the ropes the entire way through. Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the third on RBI singles by Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone, only to see the Brewers counter with two in the fourth.
But after that, the Royals' lineup and starter Noah Cameron locked in, as the Royals re-took the lead with back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning from Carter Jensen and Kyle Isbel, with Bobby Witt Jr hitting a sac fly later in the frame.
After making a two-inning relief appearance in the season opener at Atlanta, Cameron made his first start of the 2026 season and looked solid in allowing no earned runs (two total) in five innings of work, scattering six hits and a walk with three strikeouts to get the victory.
The Royals' social media accounts also announced after the game that they would be releasing a Salvador Perez commemorative bobblehead night for an undisclosed, up homestand, one in which his pose is from a photo taken right after making contact with the ball on his milestone homerun.
Code:
MIL at KC | 04/04/2026 | Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Milwaukee (4-4) 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 10 0
Kansas City (5-2) 0 0 2 2 2 1 1 6 X 14 19 1
Code:
W: Noah Cameron (1-0) L: Quinn Priester (0-2) S: None
MIL HR: None
KC HR: Salvador Perez (3)
Code:
April 4th, 2026
HOU 2, ATH 16 | STL 4, DET 3 | CIN 3, TEX 8 | SEA 4, LAA 5 (10)
MIL 3, KC 14 | TB 5, MIN 4 | CHC 1, CLE 3 | MIA 1, NYY 2 (10)
SD 3, BOS 10 | LAD 5, WSH 1 | BAL 7, PIT 4 | ATL 12, ARI 10
PHI 5, COL 12 | NYM 1, SF 11 | TOR 2, CHW 3
04/05 -- K.C. falls in extras: Tied at two heading into extras, Milwaukee scored three in the top of the 10th; and while the Royals made things interesting in the bottom of the inning, ultimately couldn't make up the difference as the Royals took a 5-4 loss in ten innings.
Seth Lugo battled through seven innings, eventually leaving after just eighty-nine pitches in a tie ballgame as he continues to ramp up after taking some time off following his stint on the Puerto Rico squad in the World Baseball Classic last month.
"I probably could have pushed through another inning," he said after the game. "Unless it was a five, six-pitch inning, then I could have gone out for the ninth in a win-now situation, but there's no need to push it too much this early in the season."
Garrett Mitchell got the Brewers on the board in the first with a solo homerun off Lugo. Kansas City struck in the second on Salvador Perez's lead-off triple, his first three-bagger since June 8th, 2022. Jac Caglianone then singled him in, as Cags put up his second straight two-hit game in the loss.
"After a bit of a slow start, Jac is starting to find his groove a little bit," manager Matt Quatraro mused. "I thought his swing decisions in the first handful of games needed some work, but Connor (Dawson) and the hitting team we've assembled here is fantastic, so we were able to get some things tightened up with him."
The Royals would go on to tie the game again in the fifth on an RBI single from Isaac Collins, scoring Carter Jensen from second base on a close play that was originally called an out, but overturned on replay. Collins also set a new personal best with a walk in his seventh straight game, beating his personal record of six that he set two different times a year ago.
Code:
MIL at KC | 04/05/2026 | Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Milwaukee (5-4) 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 7 0
Kansas City (5-3) 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 4 7 2
Code:
W: Kyle Harrison (2-0) L: Nick Mears (0-1) S: Trevor Megill (2)
MIL HR: Garrett Mitchell (1)
KC HR: None
Code:
April 5th, 2026
HOU 3, ATH 6 | STL 4, DET 0 | CIN 5, TEX 4 | MIL 5, KC 4 (10)
TB 5, MIN 6 | CHC 9, CLE 3 | MIA 4, NYY 1 | TOR 5, CHW 4 (10)
SD 3, BOS 9 | LAD 1, WSH 2 | BAL 14, PIT 2 | ATL 14, ARI 10
PHI 6, COL 4 | NYM 6, SF 2 | SEA 2, LAA 6 |
04/06 -- Waters outrighted to Omaha: As the Royals begin a three-game series in Cleveland later today, the Royals have announced that they outrighted outfielder Drew Waters to Omaha. Waters was designated for assignment last week following the activation of veteran Starling Marte from the injured list.
Marte's addition gives the Royals a bit more balance in their outfield/DH mix as a right-handed hitter, with the switch-hitting Waters better from the left side than the right along with the lefty-swinging Kyle Isbel and Jac Caglianone. Isaac Collins also has career-wise performed better as a left-handed hitter, going back to his minor league days.
The 37-year old Marte has already made three pinch-hit appearances since joining the Royals, and has reached safely in all of them (one hit, walk, and hit-by-pitch). With the Guardians projected to throw lefty Joey Cantillo in the second game of the series, it's likely he'll get his first start as a Royal in that game in some capacity.
"He's going to give you a polished, professional at-bat every time out," said manager Matt Quatraro. "When we signed him, we had a pretty defined role for him in mind, and he's on board with it."
The upcoming series with Cleveland finds the two teams in relatively unfamiliar positions -- the Royals are currently in first place in the division at 5-3, while the Guardians occupy the basement as they are off to a horrid 2-8 start.
But in fairness, they have dealt with one of the hardest early-season schedules, with seven games on the road between two teams that made up half of the league championship series a year ago (Seattle, LA Dodgers), and a home series in which they dropped two of three to the Cubs.
Then they have to play the first-place Royals beginning tonight, before going out on the road again to play the Braves and the surprising Cardinals, who are 8-1 entering play today in the NL Central.
"I think you can throw the records out of the window when these two teams play," Quatraro said of the Guardians. "They've been in the postseason the last few years, and Stephen (Vogt) is one of the best, brightest young managers we have in the game, so we're not expecting anything to come easy. They're going to be battle-tested come the middle of the schedule."
04/06 -- Storm Chasers drop two of three to Memphis: The remainder of the Royals' upper minors don't begin play until later this week, but the Triple-A seasons have already begun with Omaha hosting the Memphis Redbirds for a three-game weekend tilt to begin International League play.
The first two games were not really contests as Omaha took a 14-3 drubbing on Friday before returning the favor with an 8-3 win on Saturday, but the Sunday afternoon matchup proved to be the best of the weekend. Omaha was behind 6-0 as they entered the bottom of the seventh, but a four-run frame put them back in the contest with Dustin Dickerson's three-run homerun the catalyst. Abraham Toro's RBI single pushed them back to within two, 6-4.
Back-to-back singles in the ninth from Kevin Newman and Tyler Gentry put two men on with no one out. Pitcher Joseph King was pulled with an apparent arm injury after Gentry's at-bat. Max Rajcic came on in relief, and was able to get John Rave to roll into a double play, however Gavin Cross tied the game with a two-run, pinch-hit homerun to push the game to extras.
After plating a run in the 10th on a bases-loaded walk from Luinder Avila, the Redbirds were able to win in ten innings by holding the Storm Chasers off the board in the bottom of the inning to hand Omaha the defeat. Cross had a good series, going 2-for-8 with a couple of walks, a stolen base, no strikeouts, and the pinch-hit homerun.
No pitcher really pitched all that well, but Mason Black had the best outing with 3 1/3 innings as Saturday's starter, scattering four hits, a run, and four strikeouts to no walks. He was pulled early with what was termed as a hamstring injury, but there wasn't any long-term damage after an MRI and is not expected to miss his next start per Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
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