‘He did a good job keeping us in the game’: Burch Smith takes defeat as Royals lose

The first home run ball that landed in the right-field seats was sent soaring 373 feet through the air by Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario.

It was only one run in the first inning of Saturday night’s ballgame between the Royals and Twins. It was only one run on a bad first-pitch change-up besmirching the final line put together by Rule 5 acquisition Burch Smith, one the 28-year-old Royals rookie pitcher maneuvered around by retiring nine of the next 10 batters he faced.

Royals outfielder Alex Gordon even erased the damage caused by the homer when he stroked a go-ahead, two-run single up the right-field line to score Brett Phillips and Drew Butera in the third inning against Twins starter Jose Berrios.

But Smith couldn’t limit the Twins to just the one run as the Royals lost 8-2 at Target Field.

Yet neither Royals manager Ned Yost nor Smith were troubled by the end result of six runs, seven hits and two walks in Smith’s five-plus innings of work. They both took comfort in the right-handed pitcher’s ability to attack the zone, as he threw 61 percent of his 95 pitches for strikes. He also received 21 called strikes and seven swinging strikes, according to MLB.com’s Statcast system.

“I thought he threw the ball pretty darn good.,” Yost said. “I thought he mixed his pitches well, I thought he was staying in the strike zone well, I felt like he was ahead in the count well. ... I thought he did a good job of keeping us in the game.”

Maybe so. When Smith departed in the sixth inning, the Royals were only trailing 4-2.

But after cruising through most of his first three innings and throwing 41 pitches, Smith labored. Logan Morrison blooped a single into shallow right-center field on a ball that glanced off Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar’s glove in the fourth inning. Two batters later, Max Kepler yanked a belt-high, 94 mph fastball for a two-run homer that also landed in the right-field deck.

Five of the last nine batters Smith faced reached base. Smith was yanked from the game when Miguel Sano and Kepler led off the sixth with a walk and a single. Royals reliever Glenn Sparkman, who allowed a two-run homer to Morrison one inning later, was unable to keep the two inherited runners from scoring and increasing the Twins’ lead to 6-2.

“I feel like it obviously could have went better,” said Smith, who has allowed 19 earned runs in 20 2/3 innings since joining the starting rotation on July 11. “I could have made better pitches. But at the same time, I think we did do some things well. I think we can take this and get better from it.”

Kepler’s homer in the fourth only put the Royals at a 3-2 disadvantage. But Berrios throttled their offense, limiting them to two runs on five hits and three walks in seven innings.

With one game remaining on this three-city road trip, the Royals dropped to 34-76. They lost their third consecutive game.

Recalled from rehab: Left-handed pitcher Eric Skoglund, who has been on the disabled list because of an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his throwing elbow, suffered a setback in his rehab. He tumbled off the mound in a start at Class AAA Omaha on Thursday and sustained a right toe sprain. He was in a walking boot when he returned to the Storm Chasers on Saturday afternoon.

This story was originally published August 4, 2018 at 9:39 PM.