Dairon Blanco homered twice and collected seven RBIs on Saturday night as the Kansas City Royals rolled to a 13-1 win over the host Cincinnati Reds in the middle game of a three-game series.
Every starter had at least one hit and one run for the Royals, who won their third straight game. Kansas City began Saturday with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the race for the final American League wild-card spot.
The Reds, who entered Saturday four games behind the Atlanta Braves for the NL’s third wild card, have dropped two in a row following a four-game winning streak.
The speedy Blanco, a 31-year-old reserve outfielder, entered Saturday with 21 stolen bases but just one homer and five RBIs in 97 at-bats. He made his first start since Aug. 4 a memorable one by hitting a two-run homer in the second, delivering a grand slam during a seven-run third and adding an RBI single in the fourth.
The two-homer game was the first for Blanco, who had four homers in 228 career at-bats prior to Saturday.
The seven RBIs were his career high, the most by a Royals player since Omar Infante had seven RBIs in an 8-4 victory over Cleveland on Sept. 17, 2015, and two shy of the franchise record established by Mike Moustakas in a 14-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 12, 2015.
Blanco also tied the team record for most RBIs by a ninth-place hitter set by Jerry Grote in a 12-9 win over the Seattle Mariners on June 3, 1981.
Salvador Perez opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning against Nick Lodolo. Freddy Fermin (walk), Paul DeJong (single) and Vinnie Pasquantino (double) added RBIs in the third, and Maikel Garcia lofted a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Pasquantino scored the Royals’ final run on an error in the fifth.
Michael Wacha (10-6) cruised to the victory by allowing four hits and one walk while striking out a season-high nine over six scoreless innings.
Jeimer Candelario homered in the seventh for the Reds.
Lodolo (9-5) gave up eight runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out two over a season-low 2 1/3 innings. His ERA rose from 3.99 to 4.55.
–Field Level Media