Ketel Marte homered in left-hander Jordan Montgomery’s return as the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 on Tuesday night, evening the series.
Activated from the 15-day injured list for his first start since June 27 due to right knee inflammation, Montgomery (7-5) retired 14 of the last 16 batters faced in going five innings. He allowed a run on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Montgomery is 4-1 in his last five starts, and the Diamondbacks are 9-5 in his appearances this season.
Arizona loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning and jumped to a 3-0 lead. Marte walked and eventually scored on Christian Walker’s sacrifice fly. Two more runs came across on Gabriel Moreno’s two-out single.
Royals right-hander Alec Marsh, making his first start since game one of a July 10 doubleheader at St. Louis, settled in to retire 10 of the next 11 hitters, six on strikeouts, before surrendering Marte’s two-run homer in the fifth.
Marte pulled Marsh’s 2-0 changeup around the right field foul pole for a 5-1 lead. Ignoring first base umpire Brian O’Nora’s foul ball call, Marte continued to circle the bases. After a short umpire conference, the ball was ruled fair.
It was Marte’s for Marte’s 21st homer of the season and his fourth in his last nine starts. He scored three runs, collected two of the Diamondbacks’ eight hits and is batting .355 with 15 RBIs in 20 games since June 27.
Four Arizona relievers allowed one run over four inning, and Kansas City had seven hits overall.
The Diamondbacks have won seven of their last 10 games and look for their sixth series win out of seven in Wednesday’s finale.
Marsh (7-7) allowed five runs on five hits and two walks in five innings, striking out six.
Bobby Witt Jr.’s double in the first inning drove in the Royals’s first run, and Salvador Perez added an RBI single in the ninth.
Kansas City had a four-game win streak snapped.