KANSAS CITY (Interstat) — Salvador Perez’s two-run home run in the sixth inning broke open a close game and propelled the Kansas City Royals to a 6-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday evening at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals scored first in the bottom of the first. Carter Jensen singled to right field, and two batters later Lane Thomas launched a two-run homer to left-center field, his ninth of the season, giving Kansas City a 2-0 lead. The Padres answered in the top of the third when Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a solo homer to left-center, his sixth, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

But Kansas City answered immediately in the bottom of the third. Jensen walked, and after Bobby Witt Jr. flied out, Jac Caglianone doubled sharply to left, scoring Jensen to make it 3-1. The Royals added another run in the fourth. Michael Massey walked, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on Isaac Collins’ single to center, stretching the lead to 4-1.

The pivotal moment came in the sixth. With one out, Vinnie Pasquantino singled to right, deflected by second baseman Jake Cronenworth. Perez then crushed a 1-0 pitch to center field for his 12th homer, scoring Pasquantino and pushing the Royals ahead 6-1. That was more than enough for the Kansas City bullpen, which combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings.

San Diego threatened in the fifth, loading the bases with one out on a ground-rule double by Freddy Fermin, a walk to Tatis and a walk to Xander Bogaerts. But Manny Machado grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Padres also put runners on second and third with one out in the sixth after a double by Ty France and a bunt single by Cronenworth, but Miguel Andujar grounded into another double play, killing the rally.

Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV earned the win, improving to 3-2. He allowed one run on four hits over 4 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking three. Randy Dobnak followed with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits. Eli Morgan pitched a perfect eighth inning, and Beck Way struck out two in a perfect ninth.

Padres starter Griffin Canning took the loss, falling to 1-8. He allowed four runs on five hits over 3 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out four. Matt Waldron and Ron Marinaccio each worked scoreless innings in relief for San Diego.

Kansas City’s offense produced nine hits. Perez led the way with a homer and two RBIs. Caglianone had a double and an RBI, and Collins drove in a run with a single. Jensen doubled and scored twice, and Thomas homered and drove in two. Pasquantino went 1-for-4, Massey 1-for-3, and Nick Loftin was 0-for-3. Bobby Witt Jr. went 0-for-4.

For San Diego, Tatis homered and walked twice. France doubled twice, and Cronenworth doubled and singled. The Padres managed only six hits, with Fermin adding a ground-rule double. Machado walked twice but grounded into two double plays.

The game was played in 2 hours 29 minutes before a crowd of 23,347. San Diego’s record fell to 48-50, while Kansas City improved to 40-59.

The Royals won for the second consecutive afternoon after taking Friday’s series opener 7-6 in 10 innings. The Padres had won four of their previous six games, including a three-game sweep of Toronto at home, but dropped their second straight to a last-place Kansas City club.

San Diego will look to avoid a sweep in the series finale Sunday afternoon. The Padres then travel to Atlanta for a five-game series, while the Royals host San Francisco for four games.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of San Diego 5, Kansas City 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Padres a 55.40 percent probability to win. San Diego was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total of seven runs went over the over-under line of 10.5.