Myers homers, Darvish finds groove as Padres top Royals 4-3

By AVERY OSEN
Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Wil Myers hit a two-run homer against his former team, Yu Darvish recovered from a rocky start and the San Diego Padres beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Saturday night.

After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, the Padres took the lead in the third and held on. Myers connected in the second, and San Diego went ahead on RBI singles by Manny Machado and Brandon Drury an inning later.

Darvish (11-7) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two. The right-hander has lasted at least six innings in 22 of his 24 starts, most in the National League.

“After the first inning I was just thinking if I could get through five it’d be a good night,” Darvish said. “Somehow I managed to get to seven innings, so all in all I think it was a good outing.”

Robert Suarez worked the eighth and Nick Martinez got three outs for his sixth save.

Kansas City scored three times in the first on Nick Pratto’s two-run double and an RBI single by Hunter Dozier.

“We scored the three early, but we left some money on the table in the first and a missed opportunity in the second, those come back to haunt you,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “You have to get greedy early in the game to put teams, or pitchers, like this away.”

After that, Darvish locked in. He retired 13 in a row and 17 of 18, and had a four-pitch inning in the fifth.

“I think most starters are pretty vulnerable early in the game before they can get into a rhythm,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “He hasn’t pitched in a while and he has so many pitches that sometimes he needs to streamline and see which ones are working.”

Myers hit a two-run shot 428 feet into the fountains in right field off Daniel Lynch in the second, scoring Josh Bell. Kansas City traded Myers and others in 2012 to Tampa Bay for Wade Davis and James Shields.

The homer was the only extra-base hit by San Diego in the game.

“I have definitely been working towards right field, but haven’t had a ton of success with that,” Myers said. “But over the last two games it’s started to turn around a little bit.”

The Padres took the lead in the next inning. Machado hit an RBI single that scored Jose Azocar, and Drury knocked in Juan Soto.

“This was a big one to finish out after scoring a couple times in the third,” Melvin said. “Not only was Yu good, but got a few clean innings (from the bullpen).”

Lynch (4-9) tied a career high by allowing nine hits over five innings. He gave up four earned runs, walked one and struck out six.

Royals relievers Collin Snider, Carlos Hernandez and Scott Barlow combined to give up just two hits in four scoreless innings.

UP NEXT

San Diego goes for a series sweep Sunday as Sean Manaea (7-6, 4.64 ERA) pitches against Jonathan Heasley (1-7, 5.21).

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports