Royals’ win streak halted at 4 in 6-1 loss to Astros

The smoke cleared with each misplaced pitch in the third inning. The mirrors shattered in the wake of the hits unleashed in the third. The Astros exercised patience against Royals starter Joe Blanton, capitalized on mistakes and ejected him from a 6-1 Royals loss midway through the third inning.

The Astros charged five runs to Blanton’s ledger and destroyed the veil of competence he had cloaked himself in during his last two starts. Blanton gave up five hits and issued four walks in 2 2/3 innings. He felt uncomfortable with his mechanics and failed to locate his release point.

“It was really a back-and-forth night,” Blanton said. “It doesn’t happen a whole lot to me, but I couldn’t find a happy medium with it. That made it tough.”

The Kansas City offense declined to submit much protest at the hands of Houston rookie Lance McCullers. Down five scores after three innings, playing without Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer, the team went through the motions until the final out was procured.

Kansas City, 44-29, fell for just the second time in the seven games of this road trip. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak. In a matchup between the leaders of the American League Central and American League West, the upstarts from Houston rolled.

The pounding raised questions about Blanton, 2-1 with a 3.14 ERA, and his future role in the rotation. Blanton will start again on Saturday against Minnesota. There were scant alternatives in the organization with big-league experience.

Yordano Ventura (ulnar nerve irritation) was slated to pitch in another minor-league rehabilitation game on Wednesday for Class AAA Omaha. Jason Vargas (strained left flexor muscle) was scheduled to take part in a simulated game on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.

The team has yet to promote former top prospect John Lamb, who is 8-1 with a 2.71 ERA for Omaha. Lamb is on the 40-man roster, but few other pitchers on the current big-league staff have minor-league options.

McCullers jumped directly to the majors from Class AA in May. The pitching matchup offered a contrast. Houston started McCullers, a 21-year-old right-hander, the No. 41 pick in the 2012 draft. McCullers made his ninth start in the majors. In his previous eight, he allowed more than three runs just once.

McCullers surrendered a solo home run to Salvador Perez in the seventh. Otherwise he bullied his guests with his curveball. McCullers struck out six across seven innings. The Royals managed only four hits. The reduced lineup did not help: Eric Hosmer will not play all series as he rests his strained ring finger, and Alcides Escobar was scratched an hour before the game due to a cracked nail bed on his ring finger.

Kansas City countered with Blanton, a 34-year-old in his 11th big-league season. While McCullers toiled for the Class A Lancaster JetHawks in 2014, Blanton enjoyed retirement and tended his winery in Napa Valley. McCullers boasts a mid-90s fastball with “all kinds of life” and a “big, breaking curveball,” Yost said.

“He had a really good breaking ball,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “I don’t know if it was a slider or a curveball. It has a light of both, action-wise. But he’s a good young pitcher. He’s definitely going to be pretty good throughout his career.”

Blanton relies upon precision and deception. He allowed two runs in 11 innings in his first two starts for Kansas City.

“It’s mechanics,” Yost said. “It’s all about mechanics. If you can duplicate your mechanics, you’re going to put the ball where you want it. It’s a lot of muscle memory. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of knowing exactly where your release point is. But most of all, it’s just consistency.”

The machinery malfunctioned in the second inning. After a leadoff single, Blanton issued three one-out walks in a row. The last, to rookie outfielder Domingo Santana, forced in a run. Santana carried a .290 on-base percentage with him to the plate, but he possessed enough patience to pass on an ankle-high, full-count sinker.

Catcher Jason Castro plated another run with a sacrifice fly. Blanton extricated himself from the second soon after. He could not do the same in the third: Two pitches into the frame, second baseman Jose Altuve parked an 88-mph fastball in the Crawford Boxes in left field.

“He just got in hitters’ counts,” Yost said. “And when he tried to make adjustments, the ball caught too much of the plate.”

The end was drawing near. A familiar trouble sparked the inning-wrecking rally when Blanton walked designated hitter Jon Singleton for the second time in as many frames. Outfielder Preston Tucker flared an RBI single between backup center fielder Jarrod Dyson and backup shortstop Christian Colon.

Santana supplied the last hit. He laced a fastball over Colon’s head for Houston’s fifth run. The Royals fielded a wounded team on Monday and started a pitcher who retired last season. The result was painful, if not necessarily stunning.

“You throw some borderline pitches that don’t go your way,” Blanton said. “You throw some chase pitches they don’t swing at. Other than that, trying to fight command issues, that makes it that kind of day.”

Astros 6, Royals 1

LOB: Kansas City 7, Houston 7. 2B: J.Dyson (5), Singleton (1). HR: S.Perez (13), off McCullers; Altuve (7), off Blanton; Carter (14), off Finnegan. RBIs: S.Perez (34), Altuve (31), Carter (38), Tucker (17), Do.Santana 2 (8), J.Castro (18). SF: J.Castro.

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 4 (S.Perez, C.Colon, L.Cain, Infante); Houston 4 (Springer 3, J.Castro). RISP: Kansas City 0 for 7; Houston 2 for 7. Runners moved up: Moustakas, Rios. GIDP: C.Colon, Altuve. DP: Kansas City 1 (C.Colon, Infante, K.Morales); Houston 1 (Correa, Altuve, Carter).

Inherited runners-scored: Finnegan 2-0, W.Harris 1-0. WP: Frasor.

Umpires: Home, Andy Fletcher; First, Jordan Baker; Second, Paul Emmel; Third, Jerry Meals. Time: 2:57. Att: 20,419.

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Royals’ win streak halted at 4 in 6-1 loss to Astros."