Entering play Monday, the Kansas City Royals were the only team in the American League that still had a donut in the win column.
Brady Singer and M.J. Melendez made sure that changed in the series opener against Toronto. Singer pitched five strong innings, and Melendez hit a two-run home run to lead the Royals to a 9-5 win against the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium.
Singer (1-0) gave up one run on two hits and struck out three with three walks in his season debut. Singer said he felt good and was a little amped up for his first start.
“The velo was pretty good all game,” Singer said. “It felt like in spring training — for a little bit — it was a little bit down. But tonight, the adrenaline got me going, and hopefully I can carry that throughout the season.”
Singer’s only laboring inning came in the fifth when the Blue Jays loaded the bases with no outs. But Singer got out of it yielding just one run thanks to a double play. Prior to that inning, Singer retired the Blue Jays in order in three of four innings.
“He came out firing,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It seemed like every pitch he threw was a strike the first two innings, and the velo was up from what we had seen in the spring. Looked like he had really good command of the two-seamer. So the efficiency and the velo really spiked.”
So did the Royals offense, which scored four runs in three games against the Twins to open the season. Melendez led off with a double in the first inning and later scored on a single by Bobby Witt Jr. In the sixth, Melendez hit a towering two-run blast to right-center field for his first homer of the season.
The win also marked Quatraro’s first win as a big-league manager, and the team celebrated accordingly afterward.
“They dumped some champagne on me, sprayed it in my face first and turned out the lights and that was about it,” Quatraro said.
