KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Salvador Perez’s solo homer highlighted a six-run sixth inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-2 to earn a doubleheader split Saturday night.

By the numbers:

After Perez’s second home run of the year snapped a 2-2 tie, the Royals chased Brandon Sproat (0-1) with three consecutive two-out singles. Kansas City took an 8-2 lead when eight straight hitters reached safely after two were out.

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Sproat pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Royals starter Seth Lugo threw 103 pitches in five innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks, striking out seven.

Nick Mears (1-0) earned the victory pitching a hitless sixth inning.

Eli Morgan recorded his second career save — and first since 2023 — with three scoreless frames, striking out five.

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In the doubleheader, Kansas City relievers tossed 10 scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out 13.

Maikel Garcia had three of Kansas City’s 10 hits.

In the second inning, Carter Jensen doubled in two runs against Brewers opener Logan Henderson.

Milwaukee promptly tied the game in the third with Brice Turang’s RBI triple and Garrett Mitchell’s RBI double.

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With three extra base hits Saturday, Mitchell collected six RBIs, including all of the Brewer’s five runs in their 5-2 victory in game one of the split doubleheader.

Sal Frelick exited the game with left side tightness while hitting a fourth-inning single.

What’s next:

Brewers LHP Kyle Harrison (0-0, 1.80 ERA) opposes Royals LHP Kris Bubic (1-0, 1.50) in the series finale Sunday.

In a viral video, a Minneapolis mom says kids here “are not doing okay.” This comes after she heard a conversation between two sixth graders about some of Minnesota’s more recent traumas. 

“God, it was so [exploitative] sad,” said Betsy Bissonette, a Minneapolis mom of two, while sharing vulnerability and tears. “There are these big girls, probably sixth graders, playing hot lava monster. I was overhearing their conversation. They were so cute.”

Bissonette describes overhearing the conversation between the two young girls at a park. One girl telling the other that she attends Annunciation, describing it as ‘the one with the school shooting.’

“She goes, ‘yeah, we don’t really like to talk about it. I’m sorry for being a downer. It was really scary.’ The other kid goes, ‘I understand scary. ICE took my dad away,’” said Bissonette in the video.

“We’ve just like failed the children,” she told WCCO. 

Bissonette adds that she’s received a variety of messages since. 

“Stories from moms from Annunciation and teachers from Saint Paul or Minneapolis saying this is the exact conversation I’m hearing every day on the playground.”

We spoke with a child psychiatrist to put this into perspective.

“The kids in Minneapolis are doing the very best they can under really complicated circumstances. My general answer is kids are not okay. They’re not,” said Jenny Britton, Chief Clinical Officer for Washburn Center for Children. 

Washburn is an agency that’s been boots-on-the-ground for kids for years. Britton says this past year has changed and challenged them. 

“There’s the settling in of what happened afterwards. That’s where kids are right now,” said Britton.

If you’re wondering what you should do, Britton says, “The honest truth is, you have to talk about it. You have to find a way to find out what’s going on. Authenticity as a parent is one of the best things you can do.”

She suggests keeping the three aspects of parenting in mind:

• Laugh and play with kids
• Owning when there’s a rupture, making sure you repair when you act out of place.
• Help kids know when to ask for help.

“One of the hardest questions for kids to answer is ‘how are you doing?’ We’ve been trying to tell adults like ‘I’m so glad you’re here,” said Britton.

“I wanted to hug those kids so badly. Instead I said, ‘hey can I be the scary lava monster,’” Bissonette added in her video.

“I love how she responded. Went in and played lava monster,” said Britton.

“What we do in Minnesota is we keep us safe and we move forward together,” said Bissonette. “I did one tiny drop in the bucket. But if we all do one tiny act when we can, when we see it, I think that’s the only way forward.”

Bissonette says she recognizes being shocked by that interaction is a privilege and many children have to face traumas regularly. Britton says it’s healthy that the girls on the playground were talking about these tough topics.

Does this matchup sound familiar? Nearly ten years after that fabled World Series, the Cubs and Guardians are going head-to-head once again. It’s a matchup full of talent that promises to bring excitement as we kick off a Sunday doubleheader.

First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET. The Cubs are solid -136 moneyline road favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook, while a Guardians home upset is priced at +113. The game total is set at O/U eight runs.

Let’s get into a pick and prediction for this Cubs-Guardians game.

Cubs vs. Guardians Preview

First things first, let’s learn a bit more about these starting pitchers.

Edward Cabrera takes the mound for his second start as a Cub. He looked every bit the ace they traded for in the offseason in his team debut. Facing the Angels, Cabrera twirled six shutout innings, striking out five while allowing only one hit and one walk. He brings a unique arsenal, using a changeup as his primary pitch. You’ll also see a big fastball and some bendy breaking balls. When Cabrera has his best stuff going, he’s nearly untouchable.