Royals bullpen clobbered so thoroughly by Red Sox, Drew Butera pitches in loss
The Royals' relief corps was beat up so badly by the ninth inning of Saturday night’s 15-4 loss to the Red Sox, the gates to the home bullpen at Kauffman Stadium swung open to let out backup catcher Drew Butera.
He hadn't pitched in a game since the Royals last used him in a 13-0 loss to the Angels on July 26, 2016.
Yet the circumstances necessitated Butera's appearance. Royals manager Ned Yost had just burned through five relievers. Both Burch Smith, who came in clutch with a four-inning relief performance Friday night, and Brian Flynn were unavailable after Friday night's 10-5 walloping. Butera, given a four-pitch warning before jogging out to the mound, was the next man up with two outs in the ninth on Saturday.
Throwing in the high 70s and low 80s, Butera faced six batters and allowed three runs to cross the plate. He entered the ledger alongside a bullpen that relinquished what had been a 4-4 tie and allowed 11 runs in a span of three innings.
"I felt like I was all over the zone," Butera said. "I just couldn’t find it. Just par for the course for us tonight.”
The four runs the Royals scored off Red Sox starter David Price didn't matter. Rookie Brad Keller's 4 2/3-inning performance, in which he gave up four runs after holding the Red Sox to 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position through the first four innings, didn't matter.
All that did was this: The Royals are 25-63 and have lost 26 of 30 games. Their losing streak has extended to eight games.
Before the Royals were held hitless in the last four innings of Saturday's loss, the Royals requested unconditional release waivers on veteran reliever Justin Grimm, leaving the team with 39 players on its 40-man roster. Yost said before the game that roster shakeups were on the horizon, but not for the foreseeable future.
That may change.
Facing the best team in baseball, the Royals' train-wreck of a 2018 season somehow fell further off the tracks.
Red Sox 15, Royals 4
Boston | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
Betts rf | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .343 |
Benintendi lf | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .286 |
Martinez dh | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .329 |
Swihart ph-dh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .185 |
Moreland 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .289 |
Bogaerts ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .277 |
Holt 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .296 |
Devers 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .245 |
Vazquez c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .213 |
Leon c | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .260 |
Bradley Jr. cf | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .198 |
Totals | 40 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 8 |
Kansas City | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
Merrifield 2b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .293 |
Bonifacio rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .296 |
Almonte ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .185 |
Moustakas 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .258 |
Perez c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .213 |
Dozier 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .213 |
Duda dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .247 |
Escobar cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .194 |
Gordon lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .243 |
Mondesi ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .200 |
Totals | 34 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
Boston | 000 | 040 | 317 | — | 15 | 16 | 1 |
Kansas City | 012 | 010 | 000 | — | 4 | 6 | 0 |
E—Devers (18). LOB—Boston 12, Kansas City 9. 2B—Betts 2 (23), Benintendi (21), Martinez (21), Bogaerts (24), Bonifacio (3), Escobar (11). HR—Benintendi (14), off McCarthy; Duda (7), off Price. RBIs—Betts (44), Benintendi 2 (55), Martinez (74), Moreland (41), Bogaerts 3 (52), Holt (22), Devers (48), Vazquez 2 (14), Bradley Jr. (27), Leon (18), Swihart (4), Moustakas (56), Perez (34), Duda 2 (26). SB—Betts (16), Holt (4), Vazquez (2). SF—Moreland, Perez.
Runners left in scoring position—Boston 7 (Moreland, Devers 2, Bradley Jr. 4); Kansas City 4 (Moustakas, Escobar 2, Mondesi). RISP—Boston 6 for 15; Kansas City 1 for 6.
Runners moved up—Moreland. GIDP—Devers.
DP—Kansas City 1 (Keller, Mondesi, Moustakas).
Boston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Price | 4<AF>2/3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 102 | 4.44 |
Hembree, W, 4-1 | 1<AF>1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 3.58 |
Barnes, H, 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 2.39 |
Kelly | <AF>2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3.41 |
Workman | <AF>1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2.02 |
Velazquez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2.76 |
Kansas City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Keller | 4<AF>2/3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 89 | 2.52 |
Hill | <AF>1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5.40 |
Adam, L, 0-2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 4.91 |
Romero | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 7.71 |
McCarthy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 3.38 |
Maurer | <AF>2/3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 12.66 |
Butera | <AF>1/3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 54.00 |
Adam pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.
Inherited runners-scored—Hembree 3-0, Hill 1-0, Romero 2-2, Butera 1-1. HBP—Price 3 (Moustakas,Perez,Duda). WP—Barnes.
Umpires—Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Jim Wolf; Second, D.J. Reyburn; Third, Ryan Blakney.
T—4:03. A—30,347 (37,903).
This story was originally published July 7, 2018 at 10:25 PM.