Cole Ragans struck out 11 to win for the first time in a month, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Miami Marlins for just their fourth win in the past 15 games.
By MARC BOWMAN
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cole Ragans struck out 11 for his first win in a month, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Miami Marlins 4-1 on Monday night for just their fourth win in 15 games.
Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez and Hunter Renfroe hit solo homers off Roddery Muñoz (1-3), who has allowed six home runs in his last 10 innings.
Ragans (5-5) allowed one run, four hits and three walks in six innings. He had been 0-2 in five starts since beating Detroit on May 22.
“Change up was good,” Ragans said. “Got some good swing-and-miss on it, got some pop ups with it. Overall, I commanded it pretty well.”
“When he can get ahead and attack, that’s when you see a lot of swing-and-miss,” Royals interim manager Paul Hoover said. “A team that hasn’t seen him and he’s executing four different pitches for strikes. That’s tough on any lineup.”
Kansas City pitchers struck out a season-high 15.
Chris Stratton, John Schreiber and James McArthur each followed with a hitless inning as the Marlins were held to four hits or fewest for the 12th time.
McArthur got his 13th save in 17 chances as the Royals stopped a three-game losing streak.
“It’s tough to win when you score one run,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “I thought we had a chance in a couple of innings there. Just couldn’t get the big hit. Ragans is the story tonight. Just kept us off-balance all night.”
Bryan De La Cruz had a two-out RBI double in the third.
“My sinker was a little difficult to locate tonight,” Muñoz said. “There were some pitches that were not exactly what I wanted. I was trying to attack, be very aggressive. They were competing and they won in that situation.”
Muñoz gave up four runs, six hits and four walks in six innings.
“The problem is command catches up with him,” Schumaker said. “Putting himself in better situations, count-wise, is going to be the key to his development.”
Pasquantino led off the fourth with his eighth home run and Perez followed with his 12th on the next pitch, ending an 0-for-17 slump with the Royals’ first consecutive home runs since March 31. Kansas City, which entered with a 25-inning scoreless streak, also got Kyle Isbel’s two-out RBI single in the three-run inning.
“It wasn’t fun, but there was no panic,” Pasquantino said of the offensive slump. “What do we need to do to rectify that? Tonight was a nice step in that direction.”
Renfroe hit a 434-foot drive in the sixth for his seventh homer.
“It’s been a while,” Renfroe said. “It’s been a rough 10 days. Just to be able to hit a ball solid and get back into the groove of things is pretty fantastic.”
Michael Massey returned from a sprained lower back that had sidelined him since May 24 and was 1 for 3 as a designated hitter.
CJ Alexander, a 27-year-old who had been in the minor leagues since 2018, made his major league debut at third base for the Royals and went 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
Kansas City selected Alexander’s contract from Omaha, optioned outfielder Nelson Velázquez to the Triple-A team and designed left-hander Jake Brentz for assignment.
Otto López had two hits for the Marlins, who are 6-14 in June.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: INF Adam Frazier placed on 10-day IL (right thumb sprain), retroactive to Sunday.
UP NEXT
Marlins RHP Yonny Chirinos (0-0, 3.60 ERA) opposes Royals RHP Seth Lugo (10-2, 2.42) on Tuesday night.
