Royals fall in extra innings on Nelson Cruz’s extended at-bat
A foul ball that was called fair before it was called foul may have cost the Royals a chance at a win late Tuesday night.
The Royals started off the two-game mid-week set against the Twins with a 5-4 loss in 10 innings in front of an announced crowd of 10,024 at Kauffman Stadium for the first night game of the young season.
Nelson Cruz’s two-out RBI single in the top of the 10th provided the margin of victory for the visitors. The anger-inciting part for Royals fans came several pitches before the RBI single, when Cruz appeared to have hit into a fielder’s choice down the third-base line to end the inning when Chris Owings stepped on third base.
However, home plate umpire Mark Ripperger discussed the call with third base umpire James Hoye and ruled that the ground ball was foul, thus extending Cruz’s at-bat.
“The umpire said that he saw it bounce before the bag foul,” said Royals manager Ned Yost, who went onto the field to get an explanation immediately after the call. “He said the other umpire was blocked out.”
Cruz singled through a shifted infield and put the Twins ahead, and the Royals couldn’t score in the bottom of the inning. Relief pitcher Brad Boxberger was saddled with the loss.
For the Royals, Adalberto Mondesi went 3 for 5 with a double, an inside-the-park home run and 2 RBIs. He has gone 7 for 17 in the first four games of the season. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn also hit his first home run of the year. The left-handed slugger has 4 RBIs in three games this season.
Mondesi’s homer came off relief pitcher Taylor Rogers the inning after Twins starter Jose Berrios left the game. Berrios came into the day having tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings in his only other outing of the season, the opener against the Central Division favorite Cleveland Indians.
Mondesi, according to Statcast, got around the bases in 15.36 seconds, which tied for the fourth-fastest time on a home run in the last two seasons. His blast went to the wall in center field where Twins center fielder Byron Buxton jumped and collided with the wall trying to track it down (Buxton left the game after the inning).
Mondesi said after the game that he wasn’t running at full speed out of the box because, “I thought I got it for a second.”
The Royals snapped Berrios’ scoreless streak early with a run in the first. Berrios had posted a 4.35 ERA against the Royals in nine career starts.
Whit Merrifield doubled to extend his hitting streak to 24 consecutive games, dating back to last season, and Mondesi continued his hot hitting with an RBI single to drive in the game’s first run.
Coming off a very strong outing in which he silenced the White Sox’s bats in the season opener, Keller didn’t have the same overpowering performance in his start at Kauffman Stadium.
Keller, who only allowed two hits and three base runners in the opener, fought through command issues Tuesday night. He walked four and allowed five hits in six innings. He held the Twins to three runs, and the Royals tied the score on O’Hearn’s first home run of the season in the bottom half of the sixth.
“I didn’t have my best stuff, obviously didn’t have my good command today, but I just tried to get through as many innings (as I could) and keep the team in it,” Keller said. “That’s what I was trying to do today.”
The Twins looked to be on the verge of breaking the game open in the seventh inning when Royals reliever Wily Peralta, who converted 14 of 14 save opportunities last season, came into a tie game with two men on and the Twins’ three, four and five hitters due up.
Peralta fell behind Cruz 3-0 to start his appearance. An American League All-Star last season with Seattle, Cruz hit 37 home runs or more in each of the past five seasons and 20 or more each season since 2009. Peralta got to a 3-2 count before walking Cruz to load the bases with the game tied and no outs.
With no room for error and momentum hanging in the balance, Peralta struck out Eddie Rosario swinging. Slugger C.J. Cron lined out to third baseman Hunter Dozier for the second out and Peralta blew a fastball by Marwin Gonzalez for strike three to elicit a roar from those in attendance.
After Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless top of the eighth and Mondesi put the Royals up in the bottom half of the inning, the Twins tied the game in the ninth off of Ian Kennedy. Jorge Polanco doubled, moved up to third on a fly out to right and scored on Rosario’s single up the middle. That set the the stage for extra innings.
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 11:07 PM.
