Royals shut out by Rangers in 4-0 loss

Maybe the Royals took this National Doughnut Day thing a bit too far.

During the current 10-game swoon, the Royals had avoided the indignity of a shutout, but that changed Friday during a 4-0 loss in the opening game of a weekend series with the Rangers at Kauffman Stadium.

Rookie Chi Chi Gonzalez’s stuff might not light up the radar gun, but his array of low-90s fastballs and sliders in the upper 80s baffled a scuffling Royals lineup in his second career start.

“Cutters, two-seamers — he kept us off balance,” center fielder Lorenzo Cain said. “End of story. … It’s very frustrating, because as a team I know what we can do better and we’re just not getting it done right now.”

The second batter Gonzalez faced, Mike Moustakas, was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. He originally was ruled safe, but the call was overturned on review.

It was the only hit Gonzalez, a 23-year-old right-hander, allowed in the first 5 2/3 innings, and no Royal reached second safely until the seventh inning.

“That changed the whole inning and probably changed the whole game right there,” Gonzalez said of the video review in the first inning that turned a double into an out. “That was a huge play by (left fielder Delino) DeShields, and thankfully, they got it right.”

During the seventh inning, Eric Hosmer, who struck out in his first two at-bats, reached with a one-out bunt single to Gonzalez, whose throw to first was in time but pulled Mitch Moreland off the bag.

Kendrys Morales followed with a walk, but he was promptly erased on a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Alex Gordon.

It was the only real threat the Royals mounted against Gonzalez despite the energy from the eighth sellout crowd of the season (38,159).

“He did a good job of mixing it up, he didn’t really fall into many patterns and was doing a good job firing strikes and throwing quick innings out there,” Hosmer said of Gonzalez. “You’ve just got to tip your cap to him.”

Gonzalez retired 12 consecutive batters after Cain reached with a two-out walk in the first inning. And Gonzalez mowed through the final seven Royals to finish off the shutout.

“It’s incredible,” said Gonzalez, who struck out two and scattered three hits and two walks in a 116-pitch shutout. “From pitch one to the last pitch, it was just fun. … I just went with (catcher Robinson) Chirinos. Chirinos called a great game, and whatever he put down worked.”

Royals starter Edinson Volquez was almost as good for five innings.

The Rangers needed only two batters to take the lead.

DeShields led off the game with a triple when Cain’s dive in right-center came up empty and the ball rolled to the wall.

A roller to second off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo made it 1-0, but Volquez didn’t allow a hit in the next four innings.

He worked around two fourth-inning walks and a Moustakas error leading off the fifth, but it all unraveled in the sixth.

Moreland smacked a 3-1 fastball for an opposite-field home run to left-center leading off the inning.

Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin followed with one-out singles. Both also stole second base during the inning and scored on a two-run knock to right field through a drawn-in infield by Chirinos, who was celebrating his 31st birthday.

That chased Volquez, 4-4, who took the loss after going 5 1/3 and allowing four runs on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

“I was kind of fighting myself to find the strike zone,” Volquez said. “I threw a lot of good pitches, but not the way I was pitching the last couple days I pitched. … I’m mad, because I wasn’t able to pitch the way I used to pitch.”

Ryan Madson, Franklin Morales, Luke Hochevar and Joe Blanton silenced the Rangers the final 3 2/3 innings, but it wasn’t enough to match Gonzalez, who hasn’t allowed a run in 14 2/3 career innings.

Gonzalez, 2-0, worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his debut May 30 against Boston.

The Rangers finished with four steals, the most the Royals have allowed in almost three years.

The loss drops the Royals, 30-22, to 2-8 since May 24, and they remain one game behind Minnesota in the American League Central standings.

This story was originally published June 5, 2015 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Royals shut out by Rangers in 4-0 loss."