Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Carlos Estevez, left, and first baseman Salvador Perez (13) walk from the field after defeating the Miami Marlins in a baseball game, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
July 20, 2025 - 1:58 PM
MIAMI (AP) — Kris Bubic pitched five shutout innings, Salvador Perez homered and doubled and the Kansas City Royals beat Miami 7-4 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep and end the Marlins' winning streak at four.
Bubic (8-6) gave up three hits and a walk. Andrew Hoffmann came on in the ninth and gave up four runs — none earned — in two-thirds of an inning before Carlos Estévez got the final out for his 26th save.
Perez hit his 15th homer of the season in the eighth.
Kansas City took a 3-0 lead in the fourth, and made it 6-0 in the fifth.
In the fourth, Bobby Witt Jr. scored on Maikel Garcia's sacrifice fly, Perez hit a ground-rule double and Jac Caglianone followed with a two-run double off starter Janson Junk (4-2). In the fifth, Jonathan India had a two-run double and Vinnie Pasquantino added an RBI sacrifice fly.
Xavier Edwards and Agustín Ramírez each had two RBIs for Miami.
Key moment
After India popped out to open the fourth, Witt hit his major league-leading 33 double of the season and moved to third on a single by Pasquantino to spark Kansas City's three-run fourth inning.
Key stat
The Royals, who went into the game with the fourth-most doubles (172) in the major leagues behind the Boston Red Sox (202), Arizona Diamondbacks (178) and New York Yankees (175), had five doubles by five players.
Up next
Miami's Eury Pérez (3-2, 3.18 ERA) was scheduled to start Monday night at home against San Diego. Noah Cameron (3-4, 2.31) was set to start for Kansas City on Monday night in Chicago against the Cubs.
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