Royals pitching pounded by A’s. It was so bad, this position player took the mound
The homestand began with one of the most dreadful nights the Royals pitching staff has endured this season. Things got so bad that the Royals turned to Alex Gordon, a six-time Gold Glove Award winner and three-time All-Star left fielder, as their fifth relief pitcher of the night.
The left-handed hitting veteran took the mound for his major-league pitching debut and showed off a right-handed sidearm delivery in the seventh inning.
“Alex has been asking me to pitch for about 10 years,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I figured what the heck. He did great. My mindset was, I was going to make a dream come true for Alex and pitch him one inning. But he threw the ball well in the first inning and it was relatively quick. I’m like, OK, you can go back out the second time. I said, ‘Don’t get stupid.’ He said he wouldn’t.”
The Royals allowed a season-high 19 runs and had two position players pitch in a 19-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics in the opening game of a four-game series in front of an announced 13,595 at Kauffman Stadium on Monday night.
The Royals (46-86) also allowed a season-high 22 hits, which was also a season-high for hits by the Athletics (75-55). Their previous high was 17.
“I don’t think I’ve been begging him for 10 years,” Gordon said. “I did a little this year, offering my service to come in and pitch. Tonight it was a situation where the bullpen was kind of beat up. They asked me. Actually, I asked them. They just said, ‘Be smart about it. Don’t do anything stupid.’”
Shortstop Humberto Arteaga pitched 1 2/3 innings after Gordon. Arteaga pitched three times (2 and 1/3 innings) last season for Triple-A Omaha. He said his job as a utility guy is to be ready to help in any way possible.
Gordon said he last pitched in a college summer baseball league after his freshman year at Nebraska in a similar situation.
Gordon pitched 1 1/3 innings, and he allowed three runs on five hits and one walk. He gave up a home run to Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman.
“I was smiling at Chapman,” Gordon said. “Our guys were telling me to throw a changeup, but every time I did, they crushed it. I should have just stuck to my fastball or sinker or whatever it was. But my first changeup was to Chapman and obviously he crushed it. I was kind of laughing at him as he was running around the bases.”
Gordon came out with two runners on in the eighth, and Arteaga got out of the inning without allowing either runner to score. Arteaga allowed one run in the ninth.
“I thought I might have been getting squeezed,” Gordon said. “But then you go look at the replay, and it wasn’t close. I did think I was throwing harder, like maybe 88. Then I looked up and it was 81. I was a little depressed over that.”
Perhaps there’s some solace for Royals followers to take from the knowledge that the remaining three games of the series will be hard-pressed to produce a similar drubbing.
Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller (7-14) didn’t make it through two innings. He allowed five runs on three hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. That and the score ballooning out of control led to Gordon and Arteaga pitching in the late innings.
Keller retired the side in order in the first inning, but he struggled in the second. He gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning followed by three consecutive walks.
The second and third walks came with the bases loaded and forced in runs. Athletics leadoff hitter Marcus Semien brought Keller’s outing to an end with a three-run triple to center field. Jorge Lopez, who earned his first save on Sunday afternoon in Cleveland, took over with a runner on third and one out.
“I just really didn’t feel like I had my best stuff, and I was trying to find it while I was out there,” Keller said. “It just really snowballed. I just didn’t make the right adjustment when I needed to. Three walks later a triple kinda chased me out of the game.”
Brett Phillips’ two-run homer, his first of the season, hooked around the right field foul pole in the bottom of the second and gave the Royals their first runs of the night. Bubba Starling, who had three hits, snapped an 0-for-18 slump at the plate with a single to center to put himself aboard for Phillips’ homer.
The Athletics tacked on five more runs in the third with help from Semien’s three-run homer — Semien drove in six runs in the first three innings — off Lopez to get to 10 runs before the fourth inning. They scored at least one run in each inning for the rest of the game.
Old friend Homer Bailey started for the Athletics and took advantage of his club’s offensive explosion for his 12th win of the season. The Royals traded Bailey to the Athletics prior to a game Bailey was scheduled to start at Kauffman Stadium on July 14.
Bailey (12-8) allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.
The game was held up for several minutes in the sixth inning when home plate umpire Chris Guccione left the game and entered Major League Baseball’s concussion protocol.
The umpiring crew went on with a three-man configuration. Crew Chief Mike Everitt moved from first base to home plate, while Lance Barrett went from second base to first and third base umpire Bill Welke umpired the left side of the infield.
The Royals will start left-hander Mike Montgomery (3-6, 4.99) on Tuesday night, while the Athletics will start right-hander Mike Fiers (12-3, 3.46).
This story was originally published August 26, 2019 at 11:12 PM.
