Luinder Avila allowed one run over five solid innings, while Bobby Witt Jr. posted two hits with two runs and Salvador Perez delivered a late two-run double as the Kansas City Royals evened their three-game set against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-2 victory Sunday.<\/p>\n
Pressed into service for an injury-plagued rotation since early June, Avila (4-3) didn\u2019t give up that run until the fifth, and allowed three hits with a walk while striking out four for the Royals, who snapped a four-game skid. Ex-Phillie Matt Strahm, John Schreiber, Daniel Lynch IV and Alex Lange (eight saves) combined to allow two hits and an unearned run.<\/p>\n
Kansas City led 3-2 in the eighth when Witt and Lane Thomas each walked, then both scored on Perez\u2019s two-out double to the left field wall.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia\u2019s Aaron Nola (3-6) overcame a rocky beginning to last a season-high seven innings. He gave up three runs and seven hits while striking out seven without a walk. Bryson Stott had two of the five hits for Philadelphia, which recorded 12 during a 6-1 win Saturday.<\/p>\n
Kansas City wasted no time getting to Nola in the first. Witt, who recorded a 30th stolen base for the fifth straight season, laced a one-out single to center and scored on Thomas\u2019 two-out double. Michael Massey followed with an RBI single.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia\u2019s Gabriel Rincones Jr. doubled to lead off the third but was stranded at third base by Avila, who yielded a triple off the right-center-field wall from Stott in the fifth. Rincones followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.<\/p>\n
Kansas City regained its two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth. After successfully challenging a second called third strike of the day against him, Isaac Collins doubled to left-center and eventually scored on Jac Caglianone\u2019s sacrifice fly to center.<\/p>\n
In the seventh, Stott singled, then reached third via third baseman Josh Rojas\u2019 throwing error on a force attempt at second base. Stott scored when Garrett Stubbs beat out a double-play attempt at first base.<\/p>\n
The series will conclude Monday after a rare Friday off due to a World Cup game in Kansas City.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luinder Avila allowed one run over five solid innings, while Bobby Witt Jr. posted two hits with two runs and Salvador Perez delivered a late two-run double as the Kansas…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":480920,"template":"","news_cat":[59,4384,4388,4383],"class_list":["post-480919","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_cat-mlb","news_cat-news","news_cat-recap","news_cat-story"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n