Royals fall 7-5 to Twins, lose nine straight for first time since 2012

It was late April, and the Royals’ manager of the moment sat inside the dugout and watched another loss against a division rival. All the old maladies surfaced.

There was zero timely hitting, some growing pains from a young player, and a starter running into trouble in the middle innings. And when it was over, the manager retreated to his office, sorted through the piling wreckage and tried to offer a verbal pat on the back.

“They’re all trying to break out of this slump,” Ned Yost said. “We’re trying to get them to try easier. We get runners on base and our numbers drop pretty dramatically.”

The words could have been said on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, after a 7-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins, after the Royals closed out a dismal April with a ninth straight defeat. But they were not. A version of them, sure. But these were old words. They came five years ago this April, the last time the Royals lost at least nine games in a row, a month that saw a 12-game skid torpedo a season before the calendar turned to May.

Five years later, the predicament has come full circle. A franchise’s championship core, a collection of players hardened by months like that one in 2012, has done something its manager did not believe possible: Another nine-game losing streak.

“You don’t anticipate that,” Yost said Sunday afternoon. “You don’t anticipate getting off to this type of start.”

Royals' Ned Yost on lineups, Escobar's hitting and Strahm's return 

The Royals (7-16) will begin May in last place in the American League Central, 6  1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland. After two more losses in a rain-shortened series this weekend, they have opened the season with an 0-8 record against the Twins and Chicago White Sox, two teams they manhandled over the previous four seasons.

And thus, here we are: In a pivotal season, one defined by a pending free-agent class and a core that could soon splinter apart, the Royals spent most of April putting themselves in a sizable hole, looking nothing like the vintage set that played in consecutive World Series in 2014 and 2015 and clawed to a .500 record during an injury-plagued 2016.

“We all know that (we’re better),” said left fielder Alex Gordon, who finished the month hitting .184. “That’s why everyone is so mad right now, and so frustrated. It’s just … we know we can do a lot better.”

On Sunday, the latest setback was most unnerving in its ability to appear somewhat routine. Starting pitcher Jason Hammel was clocked for five runs in three innings. A slew of defensive wobbles led to additional traffic on the bases. Minnesota third baseman Miguel Sano continued his season-long dominance of Royals pitching, finishing 3 for 5 with a three-run homer and five RBIs.

Across two games this weekend, Sano piled up nine RBIs. In five games against the Royals this season, he has recorded 14 of his 25 RBIs. By contrast, the Kansas City offense features just two players with more than seven RBIs all season.

“It’s just been tough,” center fielder Lorenzo Cain said. “It’s been a tough month.”

The Royals finished April with a major league-worst 63 runs scored, their lowest total in a non-strike-shortened calendar month since April 1992, when the team was 3-17.

The offense finished the month with a .210 team batting average and a .605 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage). The former was the worst mark in baseball, while the latter, if posted by one player, would have ranked 146th in baseball among qualified hitters in 2016, worse than Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar. The Royals, for a full month, were the offensive equivalent of a light-hitting shortstop.

“We’re down there working hard,” Gordon said, affirming his support for the team’s daily preparation and work ethic. “Maybe we’re working too hard. I don’t know. The guys are in the cage, trying to get out of this, trying to get out of this funk. I’m one of them. Hopefully something clicks for each guy, and we can make something happen.”

Time is of the essence. The Royals will open May with a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium before playing host to the Cleveland Indians this weekend. They have time to pull out of this tailspin. Yet a 7-16 month does not leave much margin for error.

“It’s a long season,” second baseman Whit Merrifield said. “And there’s a lot of baseball left to be played. This is a really good team. Regardless of how April was, it’s a really good team.”

For now, though, that season has run wildly off the rails, the latest loss offering a reminder of the power of a streak. The Royals built a 2-0 lead in the second inning Sunday against Twins starter Phil Hughes. Cain delivered his first homer in the fifth. The offense put up a season-high 12 hits. Even that was not sufficient when Hammel scuffled in the third and fourth innings.

A pair of walks in the third turned disastrous when Sano saw a first-pitch sinker and clubbed a three-run shot into the left-field bullpen. Hammel ran into more trouble in the fourth, an inning exacerbated by a mental mistake from Merrifield at second. With two runners aboard, and the infield shifted toward the left side, Merrifield fielded the ball up the middle and tried to flip the ball to Escobar for the force. Escobar was too far from second base. Minnesota’s Byron Buxton beat the toss. Everyone was safe.

“Just a mental error on my part,” Merrifield said. “But I’ll learn.”

Moments later, Hammel’s day was over. He had thrown 77 pitches while recording just nine outs. In five starts, he has posted a 6.65 ERA and a 1.94 WHIP, allowing 42 base runners in 21  2/3 innings. In his last two outings, he has failed to last more than three innings.

“Seventy pitches through three innings — that’s just unacceptable,” Hammel said. “I’ve got to clean up the mistakes. It’s amateur stuff that I’m doing right now.”

Ned Yost on Jason Hammel's struggles, ninth straight loss 

For Hammel, the performance comes on the heels of an inefficient September 2016. In four starts, he logged an 8.71 ERA while battling tightness in his elbow. He was left off the Cubs’ postseason roster for all three series. Hammel has said his absence was not injury related; the Cubs’ brass just preferred Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey.

In the offseason, he signed a two-year, $12 million contract to bolster the Royals’ rotation in the wake of the tragic death of starter Yordano Ventura. Yet for the moment, Hammel has been the weak link in a strong rotation.

“I’ve got some work to do,” he said.

Inside a quiet clubhouse, on the final day of April, the words summed up the first month of baseball. Five months remain before October. The Royals can’t afford to have another one like this.

“Obviously, this isn’t where we wanted to be,” Gordon said. “No one expected us to start the season like this.”

Twins 7, Royals 5

This story was originally published April 30, 2017 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Royals fall 7-5 to Twins, lose nine straight for first time since 2012."