Major League Baseball
Kansas City 10, Houston 8
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, September 16, 2023
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 71°
Umpires: Home - John Libka, 1B - Derek Thomas, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - James Hoye
Attendance: 19557

Salvador Perez and Nelson Velazquez each drove in two runs and the host Kansas City Royals tripped up the Houston Astros 10-8 on Saturday night.

Logan Porter belted his first big-league home run, and the Royals extended their winning streak to four games. The American League West-leading Astros have now lost the first two in the series.

James McArthur (1-0) got the win, and Hector Neris (6-3) was tagged with the loss.

The night was a salute to the Negro Leagues, and the Royals (48-101) wore Kansas City Monarchs uniforms while the Astros (83-66) were clad in Houston Eagles uniforms.

The Royals snapped a 6-6 tie with three runs in the seventh inning. Kyle Isbel put Kansas City in front with an RBI bunt single off Neris. A throwing error by Astros third baseman Alex Bregman on Dairon Blanco's ground ball produced another run, and Nick Pratto's sacrifice fly gave the Royals a three-run cushion.

The Astros closed the gap in the ninth inning on Yordan Alvarez's RBI double and Jose Abreu's run-scoring groundout off Carlos Hernandez. Taylor Clarke came in to record the final out for his second save of the season.

In the first inning, the Royals took a three-run lead. Maikel Garcia walked and stole second base. A single by Bobby Witt Jr. put runners on the corners, and Perez lined a two-run double to right. Velazquez provided a sacrifice fly.

In the third inning, Witt walked and stole second base, his 47th steal of the season. MJ Melendez lined an RBI single to center to give Kansas City a 4-0 advantage.

The Astros answered in the fifth inning with three runs. Yainer Diaz homered to center. Mauricio Dubon tripled and scored on Bregman's single. Alvarez made it a one-run game with a run-scoring single.

Perez was replaced by Porter in the fifth inning after the catcher was hit on the face mask by Jose Altuve's foul ball.

Kansas City added a run in the fifth inning when Velazquez walked with the bases loaded, and Witt lifted a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

But the Astros pulled even in the seventh inning on Altuve's three-run homer off Collin Snider.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Houston   Kansas City
J.P. France Player Cole Ragans
No Decision W/L No Decision
4.1 IP 6.0
0 Strikeouts 7
5 Hits 6
10.38 ERA 7.50
Hitting
Houston   Kansas City
Alex Bregman Player Bobby Witt Jr.
3 Hits 2
1 RBI 1
0 HR 0
3 TB 2
.750 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Houston 12 2 21 .308 16 9 8 4 0 2
Kansas City 9 1 14 .281 17 1 9 6 4 1