The friendly confines of Wrigley Field were very friendly to the Kansas City Royals on Monday, July 21, as the Royals sent four souvenirs toward Waveland and Sheffield in a 12-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Jac Caglianone had the first run of the game, sending a solo home run to left-center field in the second inning. The Cubs responded in the bottom half with two of their own round-trippers, a solo shot from Carson Kelly and three-run blast by Matt Shaw. Salvador Perez pulled two of those runs back in the fourth with his first of two home runs on the night.

That would be the start of a series of 11 unanswered runs, including four in the fifth. Jonathan India doubled in John Rave for the tying run, followed by Bobby Witt Jr singling in Kyle Isbel for the winning run. India would then score on a throwing error as Witt attempted to steal second. The error also advanced Witt to third, who then scored on a wild pitch by Ben Brown.

Rave would have a no-doubt home run in the seventh, while Perez added a two-run insurance shot to center field in the eighth. Rave followed that up with a single scoring Caglianone, and eventually score the final run when Witt sent a grounder that resulted in a force out at second.

Aside from the shaky second inning, Noah Cameron locked down and turned in another solid start, throwing 101 pitches across six innings and striking out seven, while allowing the four runs on seven hits. He allowed no walks. The Royals advance to 49-52 on the season, 11 games behind Detroit and 4.5 games behind the Mariners and Red Sox in the wild card standings.

Rich Hill will make his debut for the Royals on Tuesday when he takes the mound. The Royals will be the 14th Major League team that Hill pitches for, tying Edwin Jackson for the most franchises played for in MLB history. Hill will also mark his 21st season in the majors, the first four of those spent with the Cubs. At 45, he’s the first pitcher aged 45 or older to appear in a game since Bartolo Colón’s 2018 season with the Texas Rangers.

First pitch for tonight’s game is at 7:05 p.m., with pregame at 6:30 p.m. on KMMO-FM 102.9.