KANSAS CITY (Interstat) — Ty France hit two home runs and drove in five runs, Jackson Merrill homered twice and drove in four, and the San Diego Padres routed the Kansas City Royals 19-2 on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.

The Padres snapped a two-game losing streak to the Royals, who had won the first two games of this series by scores of 7-6 in 10 innings and 6-1. San Diego improved to 49-50, while Kansas City dropped to 40-60.

San Diego fell behind quickly but responded with a four-run second inning. After Jac Caglianone homered off Padres starter to give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first, the Padres sent nine batters to the plate in the second. Luis Rengifo singled, Jase Bowen bunt-singled and Luis Campusano walked to load the bases. Fernando Tatis Jr. lined a two-run single, Merrill added an RBI single and Manny Machado plated another run with a sacrifice fly.

The Padres added two more in the third. Xander Bogaerts doubled and scored on Bowen’s double, and Campusano singled home Bowen for a 6-1 lead. Kansas City answered in the bottom half when Isaac Collins doubled home Caglianone, trimming the deficit to 6-2.

Merrill led off the fourth with his first home run of the day, a solo shot to left-center, making it 7-2. In the sixth, Tatis extended the lead to 8-2 with a solo homer to left field. Merrill struck out later in that inning, but the Padres were far from finished.

The game broke open in the eighth. Rengifo singled and Bowen struck out, then Sung-Mun Song singled to put runners at first and third. Tatis reached on a fielder’s choice with a throwing error by shortstop Tyler Tolbert, scoring Rengifo. After Merrill struck out and Machado walked, France stepped in with the bases loaded and crushed a grand slam to left field, his 13th home run of the season, pushing the lead to 13-2. The Padres loaded the bases again on walks and a hit by pitch but failed to add more.

In the ninth, San Diego poured on six more runs. Song doubled and Merrill followed with his second homer of the game, a two-run shot to right. France then hit his second homer of the game, a solo shot to left-center, making it 16-2. Gavin Sheets singled, Miguel Andujar walked and Rengifo singled to load the bases. Bowen was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Song singled to drive in two more for the final 19-2 margin.

France finished 2 for 6 with two homers and five RBIs. Merrill went 4 for 6 with two homers and four RBIs. Tatis was 2 for 5 with a homer and four RBIs. Song, used as a pinch hitter and later at shortstop, went 3 for 3 with two RBIs. Bowen added two hits and two RBIs.

Yuki Matsui earned the win, tossing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He improved to 1-1 on the season. Randy Vásquez threw three scoreless innings in relief, allowing three hits and striking out two. Wandy Peralta finished with a scoreless ninth.

Noah Cameron took the loss, falling to 5-8. He allowed eight runs on 11 hits over five innings, walking two and striking out two. Matt Strahm allowed one run in one inning of relief.

For Kansas City, Caglianone went 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI. The Royals grounded into two double plays and left seven runners on base. San Diego pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts, 79 balls and 14 balls in play, while Kansas City pitchers had 10 strikeouts, 40 balls and 10 balls in play.

Attendance was 18,383, and the game lasted 2 hours, 57 minutes.

France entered Sunday having recorded hits in four of his previous five games, including a 2-for-3 performance with a home run and an RBI on Friday and a 1-for-3 with a homer and an RBI on Saturday. He also had two hits in a July 12 win over Toronto and two hits with a homer and two RBIs on July 11.

The Padres’ previous results showed a 1-6 loss to Kansas City on Saturday, a 6-7 loss in 10 innings on Friday, and wins over Toronto and Arizona earlier in the month. Kansas City had lost six of its last eight games before Sunday.

San Diego now heads to Atlanta for a four-game series starting Monday, followed by three games at Miami. Kansas City returns home to host San Francisco for three games starting Monday, then travels to Detroit.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of San Diego 5, Kansas City 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Padres a 53.70% probability to win. Kansas City was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 21 went under the over-under line of 10.