The Kansas City Royals got their winning streak to seven games after sweeping the Houston Astros at home to start the week. However, the weekend would see the streak end as they would drop two of three to the New York Mets on the road.

Tuesday, April 9th: Kansas City 4, Houston 3

Houston got the scoring started in the top of the first inning with Yainer Diaz grounding into a force out with bases loaded. They added two more runs with the Astros’ best hitter to this point, Yordan Alvarez, getting an RBI single in the second inning and an RBI double in the fourth.

Kansas City was finally able to get on the board in the fifth inning as Maikel Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to left field with Adam Frazier coming home. Bobby Witt Jr. followed that up with an RBI triple, and the Astros committed an error to tie the game 3-3.

Both teams’ bullpens were solid, and it wasn’t until the game went to extra innings that we would see another run scored. The Royals were able to survive the top of the tenth without giving up a run thanks to a solid inning from James McArthur. Salvador Perez hit a sharp line drive single to end the game to win the series opener.

Cole Ragans wasn’t at his absolute best as he gave up ten hits and three earned runs, but he gave up just one walk and had five strikeouts. The Astros finished the game with 13 runners left on base.

Wednesday, April 10th: Kansas City 11, Houston 2

Wednesday’s game was all Royals. The big difference was a seven-run bottom of the third inning. This was the Vinnie Pasquantino game as he went 3-for-3 with two runs and a career-high five RBI. He also hit the team’s lone home run in the fourth inning. Nelson Velazquez and Hunter Renfroe also had multiple hits in the mid-week beatdown.

Seth Lugo had yet another quality start. He went six full innings and surrendered two earned runs, two walks and seven hits with a couple of strikeouts. His ERA remains under 1.50.

Thursday, April 11th: Kansas City 13, Houston 3

The Royals completed the sweep by getting an even more lopsided victory on Thursday. It was a nine-run first inning that set the tone of this ballgame.

Pasquantino stayed hot going 3-for-5 with three more RBI. Witt Jr. had the best day statistically going 4-for-5 with five RBI and four runs, including two homers. Maikel Garcia also had a multi-hit, multi-RBI day going 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.

Brady Singer went five innings deep with five hits, two walks and one run allowed while striking out four. His ERA dropped below 1.00 at his day’s end.

Friday, April 12th: New York Mets 6, Kansas City 1

The Royals were riding high with a seven-game winning streak going into their series against the Mets. Maybe they were riding a little too high. Kansas City’s offense fell flat in the series opener against the Mets on Friday, as they got just three hits against Luis Severino and the other four Mets bullpen arms.

The Royals’ lone run came on a solo shot by Salvy in the top of the second inning.

Michael Wacha didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up ten hits, five earned runs and two walks in his six innings of work.

Saturday, April 13th: Kansas City 11, New York Mets 7

Kansas City’s offense came back to life on Saturday. Velazquez got an RBI single in the first inning, but that was followed by three runs from the Mets.

However, the Royals would respond by scoring three runs in the top of the second inning. Nick Loftin got an RBI on a bases-loaded walk, and Perez brought two runners home on a single to left field.

The Mets would tie it with a Pete Alonso solo home run in the third, but Kansas City jumped back in front with four runs in the fourth inning. Loftin and Freddy Fremin hit RBI singles which was sandwiched by a two-run home run by Salvador Perez.

A sac fly from Loftin in the fifth and a two-RBI double from Renfroe in the sixth put the game out of reach and the Royals won the game to split the series for the time being.

Witt Jr., Loftin, Perez, Velazquez, Renfroe and Garrett Hampson all had two hits on Saturday afternoon, and Salvy had a team-high four runs batted in.

Alec Marsh was solid in his five innings of work with five hits, four runs and one walk allowed with a pair of Ks.

Sunday, April 14th: New York Mets 2, Kansas City 1

Unfortunately, the Royals’ offense was flat like it was on Friday in the rubber game of the series on Sunday.

Just like the series opener, Kansas City was held to just three hits. Mets starter Jose Butto gave up just two hits and one walked and fanned nine Royals hitters in his six innings. The bullpen surrendered just one hit and no walks in the remaining three innings.

Ragans looked much better in his second outing of the week, but the offense was unable to support him with runs. He went six innings and gave up no runs, just one walk and five hits with eight strikeouts.

Perez was injured in this game with a collision at the plate. Early indications are that it’s a hip and groin injury. Manager Matt Quatraro said in an interview after the game that he believes it’s a groin strain, and they will do more testing once the team gets to Chicago.

The Royals enter their next series with a record of 10-6, which is just 0.5 games back of first place in the American League Central Division. Their first series of the week will be against the woeful Chicago White Sox, who are just 2-13 which is their worst start in franchise history through 15 games. They are coming off getting swept at home against the Cincinnati Reds.

After their three-game series in Chi-town, they come back to Kaufmann Stadium to face the Baltimore Orioles, who handed them a pair of losses in a series in Charm City at the start of April. The O’s barely avoided getting swept at home against the white-hot NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.