KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Andrew Benintendi’s two-out RBI single to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a scoreless tie and provided the winning run as the Kansas City Royals started their home stand with an interleague victory.
The Royals tacked on an insurance run courtesy of a throwing error on a ground ball hit by Salvador Perez, and reliever Josh Staumont pitched a scoreless ninth to close out a 2-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of an announced 9,298 at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night.
Benintendi, who went 1 for 4 in the game, came through against the National League’s most dominant relief pitcher last season, Devin Williams, and Whit Merrifield raced home from second base on a bang-bang play at the plate that video replay upheld.
Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic twirled six scoreless with just one hit allowed and two walks. He struck out four. The lone hit came on a liner that third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez gloved, but couldn’t hold onto. Both walks came in the sixth inning.
Bubic has now allowed a run in his last 17 2/3 innings, including two extended relief outings of five innings or more leading up to his first start of the season on Tuesday night.
Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff (2-2) pitched into the eighth inning.
