Mondesi, Minor lead Royals to 7-3 win over Pirates

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Adalberto Mondesi hit a two-run homer before injuring his hamstring, Mike Minor pitched six solid innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 on Monday night.

Mondesi tweaked his left hamstring when he charged a slow roller in the eighth. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning.

“I hated to see him come out of the game right there,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “That was a really good play. There aren’t many shortstops in the league that can make that play. He had to take a full burst to make it happen.”

The Royals have won 10 of 16 to get back to .500 for the first time since an 11-game losing streak dropped them four games below.

Minor (4-2) allowed two runs and five hits. He struck out seven and walked one.

“A quality start and a win, so it was good,” Minor said. “I feel like I made some mistakes like every game. But I didn’t give up a whole lot of hard-hit balls.”

Chad Kuhl (0-2) took the loss in his return from the injured list. He gave up three runs and six hits in four innings.

“I thought the slider was good,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “He got stronger as the game went on. He was a little inconsistent with his fastball early on, but settled down and the pitch limit just got to him.”

Bryan Reynolds homered and drove in two runs for Pittsburgh.

The Pirates got a run in the first on an RBI groundout by Reynolds after Adam Frazier led off with a double.

Whit Merrifield opened the bottom half with a double and scored on a two-out single by Salvador Perez.

The Royals added two in the second. Edward Olivares was hit by a pitch and scored on Hunter Dozier’s double. Dozier then scored on a shift-beating single by Kelvin Gutierrez....

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Mondesi-Minor-lead-Royals-to-7-3-win-over-Pirates-16215661.php