Royals came up short in a nail-biter with the Astros
The Royals got a couple crucial hits to swing the game in their favor in the fourth and fifth innings, but they needed one or two more that they didn’t get in order to come away victorious on Monday night.
The Astros scored the final three runs to grab a 6-4 win in front of an announced 27,079 at Minute Maid Park in the first game of a three-game series. The Royals left three runners on in the eighth inning to make the defeat even more bitter.
Royals third baseman Hunter Dozier, a Texas native, and shortstop Adalberto Mondesi each hit home runs as the top four hitters in the lineup — including Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon — accounted for six hits, four RBIs and three runs scored.
The Royals nearly overcame a Jekyll and Hyde type of day from starting pitcher Jake Junis. Junis walked a tightrope of limiting damage while constantly working with runners on, but he also fell victim to the long ball three times in fewer than six innings. The three home runs allowed were the most by Junis since Sept. 16, 2018.
“Just battling and coming up short, that’s basically how I’d sum it up,” Junis said of his outing. “That third inning, I thought I made some good pitches to get the bases loaded, but luckily got out of it with just one run and kept us in it. Then the offense came through and did their job, and I just couldn’t hold it in the sixth.”
Junis gave up a solo home run on his second pitch of the game to Springer, a line-drive blast that got up in a hurry and smacked the back wall of Minute Maid Park. The Astros added another run via a solo home run in the second inning on a ball crushed by Carlos Correa, which extended his hitting streak to 16 games.
The Astros had the potential to turn the second inning into a big inning after Yuli Gurriel singled and an infield single by Robinson Chirinos and a throwing error by Gutierrez put runners on second and third with one out.
However, Tony Kemp hit a grounder sharply to second baseman Merrifield. Merrifield threw home to cut down the runner trying to score for the second out, and Springer grounded into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
In the third, Junis loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk, a one-out single and then walked in a run. Then he struck out Gurriel and got an inning-ending ground ball to hold the Astros to one run in the inning and the deficit to a manageable three runs.
Royals manager Ned Yost had recently recalled reliever Glenn Sparkman warming up early on, but made the decision to let Junis work through it.
“In this park you just never know,” Yost said. “That was when he was struggling a little bit with command, had walked a guy or two, had given up a hit. I mean, I’m not going to let this game get out of hand if I don’t have to. It’s a decision there where man you’re going to blow your whole pen. If you fall back five or six runs and then you blow your pen, it doesn’t make any sense.
“I sat Sparky down and said he’s going to have to get through it and he did.”
With Junis riding the pitcher’s roller coaster the Astros appeared in control. Then in the fourth inning Royals left fielder Gordon blooped a single off the third base bag with the defense shifted heavily towards the right side of the infield. The next batter, Dozier, bashed a two-run home run into the left-field stands for his team-leading ninth home run of the season to make it a one-run game.
In the top of the fifth, Billy Hamilton singled, stole second and got to jog home when Mondesi launched a two-run homer to the deepest part of the ballpark to give the Royals their first lead, 4-3.
“I was just sitting heater and he gave me a good pitch to hit,” Dozier said.
Junis faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings, but the two-run homer proved a fickle mistress to the Royals in the sixth inning as Astros outfielder Josh Reddick singled and two batters later Chirinos swatted a homer into the right-field stands to put Astros in front 5-4.
Junis left the game in the fifth having allowed five earned runs on nine hits (three homers), two walks and a hit batter. He also struck out three in 5 1/3 innings.
Scott Barlow tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Junis, and Wily Peralta gave up the final run in the eighth.
The crucial at-bat fell late to rookie third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez in a one-run game with two outs in the eighth inning and the bases loaded, including the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Following a Ryan O’Hearn walk, Gutierrez chopped a Hector Rondon pitch to second base to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
“That’s how you grow and get better,” Yost said of Gutierrez being up in that spot.
The Astros added an insurance run in the eighth on a Springer RBI double with two outs.
This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 10:12 PM.
