Vinnie Pasquantino hit two homers and drove in four runs to lead the visiting Kansas City Royals to an 8-4 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
The first baseman hit a two-run homer in the first inning, doubled and scored in the third and hit a second two-run blast in the fifth. He has 17 home runs on the season.
The Royals took two of three games from the Cubs and collected a pair of four-homer games.
Kansas City starter Seth Lugo (7-5) went six innings in earning the victory, giving up four hits and two runs. The right-hander walked two and struck out six on 95 pitches.
Chicago starter Colin Rea (8-4) took the loss. The right-hander gave up six hits and six runs (five earned) in five innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three on 82 pitches.
Pasquantino gave the Royals the lead early with his first home run in the first inning.
Adam Frazier led off the game with a long fly to right that bounced off Seiya Suzuki’s glove as Frazier cruised into second on the fielding error.
With one out, Pasquantino launched a home run 406 feet to right for a 2-0 Royals lead.
The Cubs cut it 2-1 when Reese McGuire singled in Ian Happ in the second.
Pasquantino was far from done, however. He doubled with one out in third and scored in front of a Salvador Perez home run for a 4-1 Royals lead.
Perez’ blast was his third in the series and ninth in his last 13 games. He has 18 on the season.
The Cubs cut their deficit to 4-2 in the third, but Pasquantino smashed his second home run in the fifth with Maikel Garcia on base and the Royals led 6-2.
Tyler Tolbert made it 8-2 for Royals with a two-run homer in the sixth.
Matt Shaw hit his fifth home run for the Cubs in the seventh inning. All-Star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong went deep in the eighth for his 27th home run.
Vinnie Pasquantino (2 HRs) powers Royals past Cubs
