HOUSTON (AP) — Whit Merrifield had three hits and three RBIs, Salvador Perez extended a career high with his 33rd homer and the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 7-1 on Monday night.
The Royals have won seven of their last eight games, taking three of four from Houston at home last week before sweeping the Chicago Cubs this past weekend.
“We’re building off of yesterday and each day we just take something positive that we’ve been doing,” manager Mike Matheny said.
Perez has 81 RBIs this season, which leads the team and is a career best, eclipsing the 80 he had in both 2017 and 2018. He got back on track against the AL West leaders after going 0 for 5 on Sunday.
Merrifield had an RBI double in the seventh inning and drove in two more with a triple in Kansas City’s three-run eighth.
Kansas City rookie starter Daniel Lynch (4-3) yielded six hits and one run with three walks in five innings for his third straight win.
“We had good at-bats, but it always starts with starting pitching and Daniel was fantastic,” Matheny said.
Houston manager Dusty Baker is disappointed his team has dropped four of five in the season series against a team with a losing record.
“They’re hot and feeling pretty good about themselves,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the softer part of the schedule as far as everybody is concerned. They don’t feel like the softer part of the schedule.”
The Royals got a double from Ryan O’Hearn in the second and took a 1-0 lead when he scored on a ground-rule double by Emmanuel Rivera with two outs.
The homer by Perez off Zack Greinke (11-4) came in the third to make it 2-0.
Taylor Jones singled and Martín Maldonado walked to start the Houston third. Michael Brantley grounded into a force out before Yuli Gurriel doubled to score Jones and cut the lead to 2-1.
The Astros loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but Yordan Alvarez grounded out.
“(Lynch) seemed to just really make quality pitches in counts where a lot of pitchers aren’t going to be able to execute,” Matheny said. “Just a really impressive mix.”
Greinke permitted six hits and two runs in six innings.
