Royals have no answer for rookie pitcher Matt Boyd in 2-1 loss to Tigers

Across the course of the baseball season, each game invites promise, nine scheduled innings, long enough to invoke the adage that you can always see something new at the ballpark.

Not every night delivers.

Take Wednesday at Comerica Park. In a dreary 2-1 defeat that may have been their least memorable outing of the season, the Royals (63-43) failed to solve a rookie Tigers southpaw named Matt Boyd and wasted seven quality innings from new addition Johnny Cueto.

The crowd here greeted Boyd with a standing ovation as he exited after the seventh inning. In his Tigers debut, the 24-year-old from Oregon State limited the Royals to one run. Kansas City practiced little discipline at the plate, flailing their way into outs.

“He just pitched up in the zone,” manager Ned Yost said. “We couldn’t center him up, with his fastball. Threw some good sliders, good curveballs. But we couldn’t get on top of his elevated fastball.”

In turn, the team could not capitalize on a solid effort from Cueto. He wore the loss after giving up two runs across seven innings of his own. He was vexed by a pair of triples in the third and the fourth, but worked efficiently and looked more comfortable with catcher Salvador Perez.

“He felt good with everything,” said catching coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Cueto. “He was working really well with Salvy. He felt good.”

The loss meant a split during the first two games of this series. No longer does it appear to carry playoff implications. The Tigers remain three games below .500. But the Royals would still like to maintain momentum as they complete this 10-game road trip. With a victory on Thursday, they can head home with five wins and five losses against the Indians, Blue Jays and Tigers.

Cueto debuted for Kansas City on Friday in Toronto. Despite shaky command he still logged a quality start. It was the minimum for qualification, with three runs allowed across six innings. Ryan Madson spit up the lead later in the game and cost Cueto the victory.

On Wednesday, he did not allow the baseball to leave the infield during the first two innings. Detroit scratched off a run in the third thanks, in part, to a mishit double by outfielder Tyler Collins. He blooped a first-pitch fastball down the left field, and just beat the throw into second from Ben Zobrist.

Two batters later, Collins stood at third base. There were two outs. The Kansas City outfielders crept in against slap-hitting outfielder Anthony Gose. The positioning did not prove advantageous.

“That was the plan,” Lorenzo Cain said. “Backfired.”

Gose lifted a cutter over the head of Cain in center field. Sprinting into the massive expanse of Comerica Park’s outfield, Cain threw up his glove in vain. Collins trotted home.

“That was a cutter that he left out over the plate,” Grifol said.

The Royals evened the score in the next inning. Eric Hosmer singled with two outs. When Boyd left a changeup over the middle to Kendrys Morales, Hosmer had the opportunity to score. Morales roped a triple, his first three-base hit since Sept. 7, 2012, and only the fifth of his career.

But another triple plagued the Royals in the bottom of the inning. Cueto wiggled his backside at second baseman Ian Kinsler and tried to disrupt Kinsler’s timing with a delayed delivery. But the trickery did not fool Kinsler. He stayed back on a changeup and smacked a leadoff triple. A subsequent grounder by designated hitter Victor Martinez put Detroit ahead.

Boyd joined the Tigers last week. He was one of three lefties shipped by Toronto in exchange for ace David Price. In two prior starts for the Blue Jays this season, Boyd allowed 11 runs in 6 2/3 innings.

The Royals could not replicate that sort of pounding. They could not engineer much of anything. In the sixth, Hosmer and Morales each roped two-out singles. But Mike Moustakas flied out to end the frame. Kansas City never threatened again.

“We just kept popping him up and popping him up and popping him up,” Yost said. “We kept swinging under it.”

Tigers 2, Royals 1

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1-ran for S.Perez in the 9th.

E: Boyd (1). LOB: Kansas City 7, Detroit 5. 2B: Moustakas (18), Ty.Collins (2). 3B: K.Morales (1), Gose (5), Kinsler (5). RBIs: K.Morales (74), Gose (18), V.Martinez (38). SB: J.Dyson (19). CS: Zobrist (3). S: J.Marte.

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 5 (S.Perez, Moustakas 2, A.Escobar, Rios); Detroit 3 (J.Iglesias 2, Ty.Collins). RISP: Kansas City 0 for 6; Detroit 1 for 7. Runners moved up: V.Martinez. DP: Detroit 1 (J.McCann, J.McCann, Kinsler).

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Holds: Rondon (3), Hardy (8).

Umpires: Home, Marty Foster; First, Mike Winters; Second, Mike Muchlinski; Third, Mark Wegner. Time: 2:38. Att: 34,628.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Royals have no answer for rookie pitcher Matt Boyd in 2-1 loss to Tigers."