Edinson Volquez, Royals snap four-game skid with 4-2 victory over Twins

The prospect of a five-game losing streak hung on his right arm, so Edinson Volquez blocked out as many distractions as he could before a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins. But as he sauntered to the Kauffman Stadium bullpen Tuesday afternoon, one slipped into his mind: his wife. He had neglected to leave her tickets for the game.

“I forgot something,” Volquez told pitching coach Dave Eiland as he began to warm up. Eiland asked what, and when Volquez informed him, Eiland relayed the bad news: “You’re in trouble,” he told Volquez.

“I’m not worried about that,” Volquez insisted. “I just want to win the game.”

It is nearly impossible for a baseball team with an 11-game lead with 25 games remain to exhibit desperation, but the Royals (83-55) felt a keen interest in concluding their recent troubles on Tuesday. The stand began with Volquez, who scattered six hits across seven innings.

With Volquez at the helm, Kauffman Stadium returned to a state of normalcy. The starting pitcher did not combust, and the team’s lineup did not backfire. The defense held firm, and the high-powered relievers dusted aside their competition.

In short, the Royals resembled the baseball club who so dominated the division and the league for most of the summer. The bias of recency and the specter of three decades of losing may have allowed a four-game streak to look foreboding, but Volquez (13-7, 3.49 ERA) eased any frayed nerves with his outing on Tuesday.

“Somebody had to step up and stop the bleeding,” Volquez said. “I think I did a pretty good job tonight.”

After Volquez departed the game, Wade Davis hurried through a scoreless eighth and Greg Holland collected his 30th save of the season. Pitching for the first time since Aug. 28, Holland benefited from a diving stop by shortstop Alcides Escobar to start the ninth on a hard-hit grounder by former American League MVP Joe Mauer.

The offense executed “quick damage,” in the words of manager Ned Yost, on Twins starter Kyle Gibson with four first-inning runs, three of them courtesy of a double by Eric Hosmer. Gibson recovered to pitch a complete game. The Royals still hung on, and with a victory on Wednesday night they can salvage a 4-5 record on this homestand.

“You try and win every series,” Hosmer said. “We’ve been doing a good job of that, obviously. I just think with the lead that we’ve built for ourselves, at this point, dropping three or four games for us just wasn’t a big deal.”

The losing felt like an anomaly. Kansas City had experienced only two other four-game skids all season. In the 36 innings before Tuesday, the club looked sluggish at the plate and ineffective on the mound, which incited alarm among certain sections of the fanbase.

The tremors of panic did not infect the players themselves. A small hive of TV cameras and tape recorders surrounded Lorenzo Cain a few hours before the game. Cain looked fatigued by the line of questioning, unable to manufacture even a hint of concern about his team’s situation. His cadence never deviated from monotone.

“We’re still confident, still ready to go,” Cain said. “A win today would definitely straighten out a lot of things.”

The team had coasted for weeks, racking up victories and extending their lead in both the American League Central and the overall race for home-field advantage. Yost handed out days of rest liberally to his regulars over the weekend, then watched his club stumble into defeat.

The team reset on Monday, when Yost vowed he would ride his regulars until his team clinched the division. He insisted a day later that stance was not related to his team’s performance against the Chicago White Sox. Instead, he maintained, that was the plan all along. “I just wanted to get everybody a day or two (off),” Yost said.

The gang assembled in full on Tuesday. Ben Zobrist led off. Alex Gordon batted second. The duo ambushed Gibson, who entered the game with a 2.81 ERA in four starts against the Royals this season. In the past Gibson has overwhelmed the team with his two-seam sinker, but in the first inning Zobrist and Gordon each ripped first-pitch singles off fastballs.

After a walk by Cain, Hosmer came up to hit with the bases loaded. Hosmer did not intend to wait. He swung at the first pitch, but fouled off the fastball. When Gibson switched to a changeup, one that floated belt-high, Hosmer cleared the bases with a double to right.

“That might have been the one bad pitch he made all day,” Hosmer said. “Left it up. From that point on, he was really keeping his breaking ball down, and just had really good life to his two-seamer all night.”

The hit gave Hosmer a career-high 81 RBIs. Kansas City’s leading RBI producer soon brought him home. Kendrys Morales snuck a double inside the right-field line to plate his 101st run of the season. With seven more, he can match the career-best total he set as a 26-year-old with the Angels in 2009.

Volquez returned to the mound in possession of a four-run lead. He had given up six runs in three of his last five outings. The last time he took the mound, on Thursday against Detroit, he exited after only three innings.

In between starts, Volquez credited Eiland for sharpening some imperfections in his delivery. Eiland shortened up Volquez first step, which improved the tilt on Volquez’s pitches and added downward action on his fastball. Volquez required that quality on a fastball to Trevor Plouffe in the first inning. With two men on and one out, Plouffe hit into a double play.

“I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to make the right pitch right here and get a ground-ball double play,’” Volquez said. “And that’s exactly what I did.”

Volquez yielded two runs in the third. A one-out single by rookie Byron Buxton, considered one of baseball’s most promising prospects, started the sequence. Buxton stole second and scored on a single by All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier. Joe Mauer roped an RBI double for the second run.

Volquez settled in from there. He would not allow another runner to reach second base. He did not experience until he returned to his clubhouse after the victory. As Christmas music played on the jukebox, Jeremy Guthrie dueled with Omar Infante in chess while Volquez pondered the whereabouts of his spouse. He never did figure out whether she landed a ticket.

“I’ve got to check in the family room now to see if my family’s there,” Volquez said. “She might be mad at me right now.”

Royals 4, Twins 2

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a-grounded out for Herrmann in the 7th.

LOB: Minnesota 3, Kansas City 3. 2B: Mauer (27), A.Gordon (16), Hosmer (28), K.Morales (39). RBIs: Dozier (70), Mauer (58), Hosmer 3 (81), K.Morales (101). SB: Buxton (2).

Runners left in scoring position: Minnesota 2 (Plouffe 2); Kansas City 2 (Rios, L.Cain). RISP: Minnesota 2 for 6; Kansas City 2 for 5. Runners moved up: S.Perez. GIDP: Plouffe 2, Rios. DP: Minnesota 1 (Edu.Escobar, Dozier, Mauer); Kansas City 2 (A.Escobar, Zobrist, Hosmer), (A.Escobar, Zobrist, Hosmer).

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Hold: Davis (17). HBP: by Volquez (Dozier).

Umpires: Home, Jim Joyce; First, Greg Gibson; Second, Chad Fairchild; Third, Pat Hoberg. Time: 2:29. Att: 31,834.

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This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Edinson Volquez, Royals snap four-game skid with 4-2 victory over Twins."