It was hard to tell which was hotter, the Kansas City August weather, or Cubs bats.
Cubs hitters rapped out 17 hits and 10 runs as Chicago took the series on Sunday with a 10-2 win over the Royals. The Randy Dobnak magic that had worked so well in his first four starts was put on hiatus for this start. The right-hander went five innings, giving up ten hits and four runs, but it was the bullpen that made it a laugher, giving up six runs in four innings of work.
The Cubs got to Dobnak with a run in the
first on a Michael Conforto sacrifice fly. In the third, Dobnak gave up back-to-back two out RBI singles to Conforto and Nico Hoerner to make it 3-0. Alex Bregman had an RBI single in the fourth to give the Cubs a four-run lead.
The Royals would get some of those runs back on a two-run home run by Starling Marte off Cubs starter Matthew Boyd. Michael Massey followed that up with a two-out triple, but Tyler Tolbert was unable to bring him home.
Easton McGee came in for the sixth and gave up six runs in just two innings of work. He allowed a two-run home run to Ian Happ in the sixth, and a three-run home run to Miguel Amaya in the seventh. Lucas Erceg worked around two singles to pitch a scoreless seventh, then it was infielder Josh Rojas on the mound for eighth to make this a true laugher. It was the sixth pitching appearance by a Royals position player this year, and the first by someone other than Tyler Tolbert.
The Royals managed just six hits on offense, going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. They lose the three game series to the Cubs an fall to 49-70 for the year. They head to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers for a three game set beginning tomorrow evening.
