KANSAS CITY, Mo. — — Juan Soto homered to lead the New York Mets past the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Saturday.
Soto’s two-run shot into the right field fountains opened the scoring in the fourth. Over his last 20 games, Soto has nine home runs and 19 RBI.
Frankie Montas (2-1) threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 19 batters while allowing a run on four hits and striking out five.
Kyle Isbel and Jonathan India opened the sixth with doubles, reducing the Mets lead to 2-1. India had two of the Royals four hits, both doubles.
Reed Garrett relieved Montas and permitted India to advance on a wild pickoff attempt before retiring the heart of the Royals lineup, stranding the tying run.
Jeff McNeil’s two-out RBI single capped the scoring in the ninth.
Edwin Díaz allowed a walk in two hitless frames, earning his 19th save.
Scheduled Royals starter Michael Lorenzen missed the game with illness.
Jonathan Bowlan (1-2), the second of six Royals bullpen pitchers, threw three innings, allowing two runs on four hits, including Soto’s 435-foot home run.
For the second straight game, the Mets successfully challenged a safe call on a Royals stolen base attempt. In both instances — Tyler Tolbert on Friday and Bobby Witt Jr. on Saturday — the runner didn’t maintain contact with the base during a head-first slide.
Witt popped up twice with runners in scoring position while his 14-game hitting streak ended. The Royals batted 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position during the first two games of the series.
With a runner at third and the infield drawn in, first baseman Pete Alonso made a diving stop of Vinnie Pasquantino’s sharp grounder, preserving the Mets one-run lead in the sixth.
Soto leads the majors with 77 walks, the most in Mets history prior to the All-Star break.
Mets RHP Clay Holmes (8-4, 3.29 ERA) opposes Royals LHP Noah Cameron (3-4, 2.56) on Sunday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
