Salvador Perez tied a career-high with his 27th home run of the season, leading a four-homer barrage by the Kansas City Royals, in a 9-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. The result stopped a four-game losing streak for the Royals, while continuing Chicago’s recent struggles, as the AL Central leading Sox are just 5-8 over their last 13 games.
For the second time in a week, Carlos Hernandez shut down Chicago’s offense, as the Royal starter improved to 3-1 with five innings of two-hit baseball. Edward Olivares smashed a solo homer in the 2nd inning, with Michael A. Taylor adding a homer in the fourth (both off of losing pitcher Lucas Giolito). Ryan O’Hearn added to his RBI total with a first inning sacrifice fly and a two-run homer in the 7th off of Jose Ruiz.
Whit Merrifield had three hits for the Royals, with a 2nd inning RBI hit ending Kansas City’s 0-for-26 slump with runners in scoring position.
In St. Louis, Atlanta’s Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler homered for the suddenly red-hot Braves, who beat the Cardinals for the 2nd straight night, 7-4. Dansby Swanson was 4 for 4 with three runs scored for the now .500 Braves, improving the team to 54-54.
Losing pitcher Giovanny Gallegos struggled in the 8th innings, allowing three runs for the Cardinals, now 53-54 on the season, struggling to remain a factor in both the NL Central and NL Wild Card races with less than two months remaining in the regular season.
Here is the complete MLB scoreboard for Wednesday, August 4, 2021:
Cincinnati 6, Minnesota 5
Oakland 5, San Diego 4 (10)
LA Dodgers 7, Houston 5
Tampa Bay 4, Seattle 3
NY Yankees 10, Baltimore 3
Toronto 8, Cleveland 6
Boston 4, Detroit 1
LA Angels 2, Texas 1
Milwaukee 4, Pittsburgh 2
Philadelphia 9, Washington 5
NY Mets 5, Miami 3
Chicago Cubs 3, Colorado 2
San Francisco 7, Arizona 1