PEORIA, Ariz. — The Royals beat the Padres 10-1 on Thursday night at Peoria Stadium.
Batters box: The Padres starting lineup accounted for just four hits: Left fielder Ramón Laureano’s first homer of the spring, catcher Freddy Fermin’s double and singles from second baseman Ty France and right fielder Nick Castellanos. Laureano’s home run led off the sixth inning. … Center fielder Jackson Merrill went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. … Shortstop Jake Cronenworth led off the game with a walk but was 0-for-2 with a strikeout. … First baseman Gavin Sheets went 0-for-3 and is hitting .174 with a .691 OPS this spring.
Balls and strikes: Right-hander Germán Márquez had trouble finding the strike zone in his third Cactus League start, as just 28 of his 56 pitches were strikes. He also threw just 11 of his 27 pitches for strikes in the first inning before he was lifted for right-hander Sam Whiting. Márquez allowed another run in the second inning, walked the leadoff hitter to start the third inning and was lifted for left-hander Adrián Morejón. Márquez finished with six runs allowed on four hits and four walks over 1⅔ innings. He struck out one and has a 12.15 ERA so far this spring. … Morejón got two flyballs and a strikeout to strand the runner he inherited from Márquez. He came back out for a second inning for the first time this spring and his two of his three strikeouts in the fourth inning were on reversed ABS challenges from catcher Freddy Fermin. Morejón has a 3.60 ERA so far this spring. … Competing with Márquez for a rotation spot, left-hander JP Sears struck out six but allowed three runs on five hits in three innings. Sears remained in the game after a comebacker struck him in the bottom of the foot in the sixth inning. He then threw a scoreless seventh and eighth inning to lower his spring ERA to 8.44. Sears did not walk a batter and threw 49 of his 77 pitches for strikes. … Right-hander David Morgan struck out two in a scoreless eighth. He allowed two singles.
Extra bases: Cronenworth started for the fourth time at both shortstop and in the leadoff spot. Only Xander Bogaerts, who is due back from the World Baseball Classic soon, has more starts (five) at both spots this spring. … Two of the runs charged to Márquez in the first inning scored after an errant back-pick to first base from Fermin. The runs, however, we earned.
On deck: Right-hander Michael King will start Friday’s 1:05 p.m. game against the Athletics in Mesa, Ariz. Right-handers Triston McKenzie, Jeremiah Estrada and Bradgley Rodriguez are also scheduled to pitch.
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