Salvador Perez slashed a game-ending single in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Kansas City Royals rallied past the visiting Houston Astros 4-3 on Tuesday.
With pinch runner Garrett Hampson at second to start the inning, Perez jumped on Wander Suero’s 0-1 cutter, drilling it into the left-center field gap for the decisive hit.
The Royals won their fifth straight with their first walk-off win of the year.
It was the first extra-inning game for both teams, and they combined to leave 24 runners on base, 13 by Houston.
The Astros nicked Royals starter Cole Ragans for single tallies in the first, second and fourth innings but stranded eight on base in those four frames. Ragans allowed three runs on a career-high 10 hits and one walk with five strikeouts over five innings.
Houston’s first three hitters singled to load the bases in the first inning before Yainer Diaz had an RBI groundout.
In the second, Yordan Alvarez’s two-out hit plated Jeremy Pena. Doubles by Mauricio Dubon and Alvarez made it 3-0 in the fourth.
Alvarez matched a career high with four of the Astros’ 14 hits.
Maikel Garcia’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly got Kansas City on the scoreboard with the first run scored against Cristian Javier after he fired 15 shutout innings to begin the year.
Bobby Witt Jr. followed with a two-out RBI triple and scored on third baseman Alex Bregman’s throwing error, tying the game 3-3.
Javier wound up allowing three runs — two earned — on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
Kansas City’s James McArthur (1-0) allowed only an infield hit over the final two innings for the win.
The Royals bullpen delivered five innings of scoreless relief, expanding their scoreless streak to 16 1/3 innings.
Suero (0-1), who was promoted from Triple-A Sugar Land when Framber Valdez (elbow) was placed on the injured list earlier in the day, faced only one batter and took his first major league loss since 2021.
The Astros had won their previous two games.
–Field Level Media