Royals absorb another 5-4 loss to Yankees in extra innings

For 5  2/3 innings Wednesday, as a baseball game stretched late into the night, Royals manager Ned Yost grabbed the steering wheel of a worn-down beater on empty.

The car was the Royals’ bullpen, which was depleted and running on fumes. The task was simple: Piece together the innings, keep the game alive and wait for the offense to show up. And if he could stand it, don’t use rookie left-hander Matt Strahm, who had never pitched on back-to-back days in his professional career.

This was Yost’s challenge, and these were the rules, and by the end, the bullpen ran out of gas. Yost was forced to break an unofficial rule. The Royals suffered another agonizing loss to the New York Yankees, falling 5-4 in 13 innings at Kauffman Stadium.

Reliever Chris Young cracked in the top half of the 13th inning. The offense was a no-show after scoring four runs in the first three innings. The most glaring number: The Royals didn’t record a single hit against six different New York relievers over the final seven innings.

“We just needed to find a way to score a run somewhere in there, and we just couldn’t do it,” Yost said afterward.

The offensive performance was gutting, especially coming just one night after a 5-4 loss in 10 innings. Kansas City, which fell to 69-64, suffered two straight losses for the first time Aug. 4 and 5. It also saw its streak of seven straight series victories come to an end.

By the end of the night, after four hours and 17 minutes, the Royals remained three games behind the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers in the race for the second American League wild-card berth. They will open another crucial series against the Tigers on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

“It’s been a long week for us,” said first baseman Eric Hosmer, who finished 1 for 6 with a solo home run. “We’ve had some long nights (and) long games, as well. We could definitely use this off day to kind of rest up and give it one last push.”

Wednesday was a night of inches. The Royals nearly won the game in the bottom of the 11th, when Paulo Orlando hit a screaming line drive with runners at second and third and two out. The ball found the glove of Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro. Likewise, Young escaped a bases-loaded hornet’s nest in the 12th, coaxing a line drive and ground out that kept the game tied at 4-4.

But for much of the night, the most intriguing storyline was Yost’s use of a bullpen that had few fresh options.

Early Wednesday afternoon, just 18 hours after a stinging 10-inning loss inside Kauffman Stadium, the Royals had juggled their relief corps, seeking reinforcements after a taxing week. They entered the day at six games over .500 and three games out of the second American League wild-card spot. They needed a victory to preserve a streak of series victories that started Aug. 7.

First, there was housekeeping to finish. Left-hander Scott Alexander was recalled from Class AAA Omaha as Chien-Ming Wang went on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Pounders returned as infielder Christian Colon headed for a week stay at Omaha. (He will be eligible to return when the Storm Chasers’ season ends Monday.)

Closer Wade Davis also appeared in the Royals’ clubhouse on Wednesday, and if he had been available, things would have been a lot simpler. But after making a rehab appearance on Tuesday night in Omaha, Davis would not be activated until Friday.

So here was reality: The additions of Alexander and Pounders bolstered a bullpen that needed arms, but as the Royals began the first inning, Yost didn’t want to use Strahm, the rookie, Peter Moylan, Brian Flynn or Joakim Soria.

By the end of the game, he had used all but Soria.

The Royals built a 4-0 lead in the early innings, scoring on a two-run blast from Kendrys Morales in the first, a double from Alcides Escobar in the second and a homer from Hosmer in the third.

But by the top of the seventh, the Yankees had struck back against Royals starter Ian Kennedy, who allowed four runs in 6  1/3 innings after opening the game with five scoreless innings.

Thus, the bullpen ride began, and Yost tried to maneuver the vehicle. Alexander worked 1  1/3 scoreless innings, passing the baton to Peter Moylan, who induced a ground ball that turned into an error. Next came Flynn, who ended the eighth inning. Kelvin Herrera worked a scoreless ninth. Pounders tossed two scoreless innings in the 10th and 11th.

And still, the Royals’ offense could not score.

“Those guys are on fumes,” Yost said afterward. “Going into the day, there was no way I wanted to use Strahm, Soria, Moylan or Flynn.”

Young was up next, and he worked around a jam in the 12th before running into trouble in the 13th. This forced Yost to do something he did not want to do.

Strahm, 24, has been dominant during his first month in the big leagues, but his presence in the Royals’ bullpen has come with certain rules. He does not pitch on consecutive days. His health is paramount.

The Royals view Strahm as a starter in the long run, and they sought to monitor his innings when he joined the bullpen in late July.

On Wednesday night, Yost was forced to make an exception.

“What other option?” Yost said. “I could have just pulled somebody out of the stands and said, ‘You ever pitched before?’ That’s the only option. I had him and Jack (Soria) left down in the pen. C.Y. was out there competing his tail off. And you know, he just didn’t have much left in the tank. The only option we had was Strahm to try and get through that inning.”

The question that naturally follows is this: If Yost was comfortable breaking the Strahm rule in the middle of the top of the 13th, could he have done it to start the inning? Yost repeated that he didn’t want to use Strahm — until he had to.

“I didn’t want him to use him,” Yost said. “It took everything that I could muster to get him up. The kid has never been back-to-back, he’s coming off Tommy John a couple years ago. This is all new territory to him. But again, it was to the point where we had to extend our boundaries a little bit.”

Strahm replaced Young with nobody out and runners on second and third. He allowed an RBI sacrifice fly to Brian McCann before getting out of the inning. The Royals’ offense could not answer.

In the end, perhaps this was the story. For seven innings, the Kansas City offense could not muster a hit against the New York bullpen. And in the end, it resulted in another loss.

“Tonight was tough,” Kennedy said. “We had the game won, and it slipped away from us.”

Yankees 5, Royals 4

E—Headley (10), Cuthbert (14), Orlando (4). LOB—New York 11, Kansas City 6. 2B—Sanchez (9), Castro (24), Escobar (21). HR—Castro (19), off Kennedy; Morales (22), off Cessa; Hosmer (19), off Cessa. RBIs—Ellsbury (46), Gregorius (61), Castro 2 (64), McCann (51), Hosmer (80), Morales 2 (63), Escobar (43). SB—Headley (5), Dyson (23), Burns 2 (16). CS—Mondesi (1). SF—Ellsbury, Gregorius, McCann. S—Dyson. DP—New York 1.

Moylan pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Young pitched to 2 batters in the 13th. Inherited runners-scored—Alexander 1-1, Flynn 1-0, Strahm 2-1. IBB—off Young (Ellsbury), off Strahm (Headley). HBP—Parker (Perez). WP—Cessa. T—4:19. A—22,615 (37,903).

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 11:51 PM with the headline "Royals absorb another 5-4 loss to Yankees in extra innings."