Brady Singer & Royals’ bats sizzle as Kansas City beats Tampa Bay Rays in series finale

The Kansas City Royals took a page out of the Tampa Bay Rays’ playbook on Sunday. The Royals hit three home runs en route to a 8-4 victory at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals trio of Bobby Witt Jr., Drew Waters and MJ Melendez each homered in the game. KC collected 11 hits to salvage a win in the finale of their three-game series against the Rays.

“The home runs added some energy into the dugout,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “All of that stuff was positive and it felt really good for these guys to jump out to a lead like that.”

Melendez opened the scoring in the first inning. He doubled off Rays starter Zack Elfin and scored Royals captain Salvador Perez in the process.

The Royals continued to be aggressive against Elfin. They collected seven hits against him in the first two innings and the Tampa Bay starter got an early hook from Rays manager Kevin Cash.

Elfin pitched three innings. He allowed five earned runs and didn’t strike out a batter.

“It was good, definitely those first couple of innings, to be able to get Elfin out of the game early,” Melendez said. “He is a very good pitcher and has a lot of different pitches he can go to.”

KC did its damage in the second inning. Waters and Witt each hit an RBI triple. They combined to go 4 for 8 in the game and accounted for five of the Royals’ eight runs.

That run support was enough for Royals starter Brady Singer. He allowed four runs in eight innings and was dominant for seven of them.

“I think that was one of the better sinkers that I’ve had all year,” Singer said. “In the first and second, it was a little iffy. Then, I was really finding it towards the end. I think the sinker needs to come along and today was a positive.”

Isaac Parades and Francisco Meija both homered in the eighth before Singer could record the final out of the inning. Scott Barlow pitched the ninth.

The Royals improved to 27-67 and Singer won his sixth game of the season.

Missed previous games of the series?

Game 1: Alec Marsh fans 11 batters as Royals fall 6-1 to Rays

Game 2: Royals surrender three late runs in 4-2 loss to Rays

Here are more notables from Sunday’s game:

Salvador Perez exits with injury

Royals captain Salvador Perez set the tone against the Rays Sunday. But he left the game early with an apparent leg injury.

The Royals announced Perez exited with left-hamstring discomfort. He was set to receive additional testing.

“Right now, it’s a left hamstring strain,” Quatraro said. “We are going to get further testing this afternoon. He says, as you’d expect, he wants to play tomorrow. We will see how he is feeling in the morning. The first 24 hours will tell us the most with how he is doing.”

In the first inning, Perez singled off Rays starter Elfin. He drove a 90.4 mph cutter into left field to get aboard in front of designated hitter Melendez.

Melendez followed with a RBI double. Perez circled the bases and scored before the throw made it home from the outfield. However, Perez appeared to grimace as he left the field.

Perez stayed in to catch the second inning but was replaced by backup Freddy Fermin prior to his next at-bat.

Bobby Witt Jr and Drew Waters set club record

It was a special day for Witt and Drew Waters: The duo became the first pair of Royals teammates to each record a triple and home run in the same game.

“Any time you are able to do that, it’s always awesome,” Witt said. “Whenever they told us that, it was pretty cool just to hear.”

Waters hit an RBI triple in the second inning. In his next at-bat, he blasted a 465-foot home run into the fountains in right field. Witt recorded a two-run triple in the second inning. He later hit his 16th home run off Rays reliever Yonny Chirinos.

Witt and Waters are the only pair of major-league teammates to accomplish the triple/homer special this season.

What’s next: The Royals begin a four-game home series against the Detroit Tigers on Monday. Jordan Lyles will start against Matt Manning at Kauffman Stadium.