Royals fall to the Cleveland Indians in 14 innings
The Royals came out on the wrong end of a battle of attrition that lasted past midnight and spanned 14 innings on Thursday night (into Friday morning).
The Royals pushed the Cleveland Indians, the club with the best winning percentage and the most wins in the majors since June 3, to the brink several times.
However, Jose Ramirez’s solo home run in the 14th inning started a two-run inning as the Royals fell 5-4 in front of an announced 15,224 in the first game of a four-game set at Kauffman Stadium. The 4-hour, 51-minute game was the longest for the Royals since May 29, 2018, against Minnesota.
Ramirez’s homer off Brian Flynn, the seventh reliever of the night for the Royals, was the first run scored since the sixth inning. Jake Bauers added an insurance run, which provided the margin of victory, on a one-out RBI single.
“Behind in the count and then right down the middle to a good hitter,” Flynn said of the at-bat against Ramirez. “I threw another one down the run to Bauers. That insurance run ended up being huge, obviously. I always say you only make two mistakes or something. I might make more, but I paid for those two mistakes.”
The teams combined to leave 31 men on base. The Indians (60-42) went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, while the Royals went 0-for-9.
The Royals (39-65) scored a run in the bottom of the 14th on a Jorge Soler sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Bubba Starling struck out with runners on first and second to end the game.
Starling tallied his first three-hit game in the majors, Alex Gordon also collected three hits and Hunter Dozier hit his 16th home run of the season to lead the Royals offense.
Dozier has now driven in nine runs in 13 games against the Indians this season. He homered off Indians starter Adam Plutko for the second time in less than a week.
Starling extended his hitting streak to nine games. His 10-game on-base streak is the second-longest in club history by a player to begin his major-league career. Johnny Damon holds the record with 12 games.
Whit Merrifield’s 14th-inning single, he’d been 0-for-4 with a walk and a hit by pitch, meant he still hasn’t gone back-to-back games without a hit since Sep 3-5, 2018. That’s the fourth-longest streak in the American League since 1946.
“I think this team is figuring out how to win games, which is a good sign,” Merrifield said. “You could just feel it in the dugout. We expected to win that game, which is a different vibe that we had earlier this season.”
Royals starting pitcher Mike Montgomery allowed one run on five hits, including a home run, and walked one in his second start of the season. He left the game with a 2-1 lead, and he made it through five innings on 64 pitches (36 strikes).
Montgomery worked on a limited pitch count because he’d pitched exclusively out of the bullpen this season with the Chicago Cubs prior to the trade that brought him back to the Royals, the organization that drafted him in 2008.
Indians All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Montgomery to open the game. Lindor knocked the pitch out of the park to left-center field for a solo home run.
Montgomery didn’t allow another run in his five innings. He allowed five hits and walked one in his second start of the season. He left the game with a 2-1 lead, and he made it through five innings on 64 pitches (36 strikes).
“I thought even late in the game I was really still able to make the pitches that I needed to and get the outs,” Montgomery said. “A lot of that is legs and mindset and being out there more, getting innings under your belt. But I know what I’m capable of and I know I’ve still got a long way to go.”
The Indians wasted little time putting together a scoring opportunity as soon as Montgomery left the game. Reliever Jorge Lopez started the sixth inning off by walking the first two batters before Royals manager Ned Yost replaced him with Kevin McCarthy.
With runners on first and second, McCarthy got Ramirez to ground into a fielder’s choice which left runners on the corners and one out. However, Jason Kipnis followed with a game-tying RBI single on an 0-2 pitch. After McCarthy struck out Roberto Perez for the second out, Merrifield’s fielding error at second base allowed the go-ahead run to score.
The Royals trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, but Merrifield got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the score, 3-3, and it remained that way until Ramirez’s home run.
Right-hander Jakob Junis (6-8, 4.83) will start for the Royals in the second game of the series on Friday night.
This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 12:19 AM.
