Fastball

Kansas City Royals Beat Dodgers as MJ Melendez Hits Historic Grand Slam

It's been a tough week for the Royals, having to play both the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, but they earned the win on Saturday night after getting an incredibly impressive grand slam from M.J. Melendez.
Brady Farkas|
Kansas City Royals left fielder MJ Melendez (1) celebrates with major league field coordinator, third base coach Vance Wilson after hitting a grand slam home run in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 15.
Kansas City Royals left fielder MJ Melendez (1) celebrates with major league field coordinator, third base coach Vance Wilson after hitting a grand slam home run in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 15. | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals have had a tough week, having to play both the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Kansas City had lost four of those first five games until Saturday night, when they got a 7-2 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Seth Lugo, who is fixing to be an All-Star for the American League, went 6.0 strong innings on the mound. He got the win after allowing just two runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out four in moving to 10-2 on the year with a 2.40 ERA.

Furthermore, offensively, the Royals were powered by a historic grand slam off the bat of MJ Melendez.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

MJ MELENDEZ

12 PITCHES

that’s the 3rd-most pitches in a PA ending in a grand slam since pitch counts have been tracked (1988), behind only:

7/12/18 Mookie Betts: 13
4/20/92 Gary Scott: 13

It's been a difficult year for Melendez, who is only hitting .168 with a .583 OPS, but that was his eighth home run as he continues to find ways to contribute to the offensive attack. He has 23 RBI and two stolen bases as well. That grand slam also came in the fifth inning and broke a 2-2 tie, which opened up the game so the Royals could get the win.

The Royals are now 41-31 on the season and in the second wild card spot in the American League. They haven't made the playoffs since the 2015 season, the same year they most recently won the World Series.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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