KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, Seiya Suzuki also homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 9-4 on Saturday night. Wisdom hit for Pete Crow-Armstrong and laced the homer 440-feet off Sam Long into the fountains in left for a 7-4 lead. The runners were put on base by Seth Lugo (12-5), who went 6 1/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out two. Julian Merryweather (1-0) pitched an inning for the victory. Cubs starter Shota Imanaga went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts. Suzuki hit his 15th homer.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, Seiya Suzuki also homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 9-4 on Saturday night.
Wisdom hit for Pete Crow-Armstrong and laced the homer 440-feet off Sam Long into the fountains in left for a 7-4 lead.
"That was pretty cool," Wisdom said. "I don't think it really hit me until I was rounding second base and I saw the dugout going nuts so that was pretty special for sure."
The runners were put on base by Seth Lugo (12-5), who went 6 1/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out two.
"He gave us a really good chance to win. He is out there in the seventh after giving up three runs," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. "Not as many strikeouts; they did a good job of putting the ball in play and forcing some action. Lugo gave us a chance to win but you have to give them credit for putting the ball in play."
Julian Merryweather (1-0) pitched an inning for the victory. Cubs starter Shota Imanaga went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts.
"I thought Shota was good and I think they did a really good job against him," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "They were really good against the high fastball and the splitter and fouled off a ton so credit to them because I thought he threw a lot of good pitches." Overall, just a good night in all phases."
Suzuki hit his 15th homer, scoring Michael Busch to make it 2-0 in the first. Hunter Renfroe his 10th homer for Kansas City in the second.
Crow-Armstrong tripled and scored in the third inning to make it 3-1.
Kansas rallied in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in Maikel Garcia, but was thrown out rounding second base. Later, Salvador Perez singled, Freddy Fermin doubled and Renfroe followed with a two-run single.
David Bote and Nico Hoerner drove in runs in the ninth for Chicago.
