The Royals pulled off two successful squeeze bunts—in the same inning! They keyed a three-run rally which helped Kansas City defeat the Senators 6-3 at RFK Stadium in Washington.

Although the Senators scored two runs in the first off Royals starter Wally Bunker, the Royals came back right away with those three runs in the second inning. With one out, Ed Kirkpatrick worked a walk from Senators starter Joe Coleman. Jerry Adair reached on an error by second baseman Bernie Allen, and Kansas City was in business. Ellie Rodriguez singled for one run. Jackie Hernandez got the first squeeze bunt down, which brought in Adair. Rodriguez made it to third when Coleman’s threw wildly to first, and he scored when Bunker got his bunt down.

Kansas City added one run in the third, when Kirkpatrick, Adair, and Rodriguez all collected two-out singles. Washington responded with a run in the fourth when Allen doubled and scored on a pinch-hit single by Ed Stroud.

But the Royals reopened a two-run lead when Kirkpatrick homered off Jim Hannan in the fifth, and scored one more in the seventh on a Mike Fiore double and Adair single.

Bunker did not pitch particularly well, allowing six hits and five walks in 6 1/3 innings. He and the Royals were rescued by Moe Drabowsky, who pitched 2 2/3 perfect innings to collect his 11^th save. Drabowsky finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the ninth to seal the win.

The victory improved Kansas City’s record to 46-68. They also moved ahead of California into fourth place in the AL West, 22 games behind Minnesota.

Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS2/WS2196908120.shtml

Today’s birthdays: Luis Ordaz (1975), Chris Owings (1991)