Royals’ rally come up 15 runs short against Tigers
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star
The unbeaten run figured to end at some point this week. The Royals seemed unlikely to produce a third straight three-game sweep against the Detroit Tigers.
But this? Wow. Monday’s 19-4 bludgeoning at Kauffman Stadium was payback by the Tigers on an excruciating scale.
The game ended with shortstop Tony Peña pitching the ninth inning — and he was the Royals’ most effective pitcher of the game. Really. Three up and three down.
So, yes, this was a fiasco, but a humorous one.
“It’s one of those games when they did everything right,” shortstop Mike Aviles said. “It didn’t matter where we played or what we threw. They were on every pitch. They found every hole.
“It was one of those days where you have to turn the page. That’s the only way to look at that game.”
Detroit broke open a scoreless game with a five-run third inning that ignited when third baseman Alex Gordon failed to make a clean pickup on a sharp grounder and mushroomed on Luke Hochevar’s inability to control damage with two outs.
All five runs scored when the Tigers bunched three straight two-out hits. Matt Joyce capped the burst with a three-run homer on a first-pitch change-up that left Hochevar, 6-8, pounding his glove in frustration.
“That’s what upsets you the most,” Hochevar said.
“Two of the balls they hit and scored on that inning were change-ups. They weren’t necessary bad pitches, but they caught some of the plate.”
Things only got worse.
A lot worse.
The Tigers stretched their lead to 7-0 in the fifth and 9-0 in the seventh before pummeling Jimmy Gobble in a 10-run eighth inning that extended the lead to 19-0. All 10 runs were charged to Gobble, whose ERA spiked to 11.31.
“Everything feels good,” Gobble insisted. “My velocity is there. The ball is down for the most part. … You can’t hope for change. You’ve got to go out and do it.”
That early five-spot smoothed the way for Tigers right-hander Zach Miner, who made his first start of the season after 32 relief appearances. Miner rejoined the club earlier in the day after spending the last few weeks at Class AAA Toledo.
Miner, 4-3, allowed just three hits, all singles, in pitching six shutout innings.
The Tigers finished with 18 hits. Miguel Cabrera matched career highs with five hits and six RBIs. Joyce finished with four hits and five RBIs. Carlos Guillen had three hits and scored five runs. Curtis Granderson had three hits and scored four runs.
“You don’t like to see these either way, to be honest with you,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “I’ve been on both sides of them.”
The Royals avoided a shutout — and their worst loss in history — by scoring four times in the eighth against relievers Freddy Dolsi/ and Aquilino Lopez. Billy Butler capped a run of five straight hits with a two-run single.
“It was a nasty loss,” manager Trey Hillman said. “Obviously lopsided and a laugher for them. Toward the end, at least, we were playing with a little bit of pride. We got rid of the shutout. So that was a positive.”
The Royals had won all six games between the two teams before Monday. They opened the season with a three-game sweep in Detroit, and produced another sweep when the teams met in mid-May at Kauffman Stadium.
The victory enabled the Tigers to crawl over .500 at 50-49. The Royals reached the 100-game mark at 45-55, which puts them two victories ahead of last year’s pace.
Hochevar exited after the fifth with a line that showed seven runs and eight hits. His ERA jumped to 5.47.
Peña’s work in the ninth included a strikeout of Ivan Rodriguez. Peña is the first position player to pitch for the Royals since infielder Shane Halter on July 17, 1998 at Seattle.
Halter pitched a scoreless inning that night. Maybe the Royals need to use infielders as pitchers more often.
“It was fun,” Peña said. “Before I signed, I used to pitch and play short. Some teams wanted to sign me as a pitcher, but I like playing short more.”
Tigers at Royals
•
WHEN/WHERE: 7:10 tonight at Kauffman Stadium
•TV/RADIO: FSNKC; KCSP (610 AM).
@Go to
KansasCity.com for a photo gallery from Monday’s game, Bob Dutton’s vlog and Sam Mellinger’s Ball Star blog on the Royals and Major League Baseball.
To reach Bob Dutton, Royals reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4352 or send e-mail to bdutton@kcstar.com
Bob Dutton's vlog | Tigers 19, Royals 4
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