Jorge Soler moves closer to home run record, but Royals can’t complete comeback vs. A’s
The Royals rallied from a five-run deficit to pull within a run in the eighth inning. However, they gave up a run in the top of the ninth and weren’t able to get over the hump in their last chance at the plate.
The rally fell short despite a Ryan O’Hearn RBI single in the ninth inning that scored Alex Gordon. The Royals dropped the fourth and final game of their series with the Oakland Athletics, 9-8, in front of an announced 13,844 Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. The A’s won three of the four games.
Royals outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler hit his 37th home run of the season, while Whit Merrifield had a three-hit game and extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Nicky Lopez (hit, RBI) extended his hitting streak to 12 games, and Cheslor Cuthbert drove in a pair of runs.
Soler, who entered the day with the second-most homers in the American League this season, moved into sole possession of second place on the franchise’s single-season home run list.
“Normally I tell Soler before the games, ‘Come on, I want to win. I need a ganar.’ That’s Spanish for I need a win,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Today, I said two things. I need a ganar and I need you to hit a homer. When he homered, I thought maybe I’d get my wish. I thought I’d get both. But I only got one.”
Soler’s first-inning blast pushed him ahead of Steve Balboni and within one homer of tying Mike Moustakas’ single-season club record of 38 set in 2017.
“He did tell me that but he told me to hit two,” Soler said with quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol translating from Spanish to English. “Every day he tells me that and every day he tells me we got to win.”
Due in part to several injury-shortened seasons in the majors, Soler hadn’t previously hit more than 12 homers in a season. He now has slightly more than a month to tie and surpass Moustakas’ mark.
Moustakas’ 38th home run of the 2017 season came on Sept. 25, two days after he’d hit his 37th.
Asked whether the record chase seems more real now that he’s so close, Soler smiled and replied, “I’ve known it was real from a while ago.”
Royals starting pitcher Glenn Sparkman allowed seven runs on nine hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. He also hit a pair of batters and allowed a home run.
The Athletics (77-56) scored three runs in the fourth and took the lead back thanks in part to Jurickson Profar’s two-run home run. They added to that lead with a three-run fifth, which chased Sparkman from the game. That inning gave the visitors a 7-2 lead.
A three-run fifth pulled the Royals back within striking distance. Cuthbert ripped a two-run double high off the left field wall, which came within a few feet of being a home run, and made it a two-run game.
The Athletics added an unearned run in the sixth with the help of a Cuthbert error, but the Royals again rallied in the eighth with two runs against their former teammate and Athletics relief pitcher Jake Diekman. One-out walks by O’Hearn and Bubba Starling set the table for RBI singles by Nick Dini and Lopez in the eighth.
The Athletics scored the game-deciding run in the top of the ninth when Corban Joseph popped out in foul territory along the third base line with runners on second and third and one out.
The third baseman, Cuthbert, made the catch on ball in foul territory, but his momentum carried him down the steps of the visiting dugout and out of play.
Because Cuthbert didn’t remain in play, the runners were each awarded a base and a run scored. That run ended up being the difference after O’Hearn’s ninth-inning RBI single.
“One point when I was getting close to the ball, I looked down to see where I was at — if it was going to be a tough play,” Cuthbert said. “That’s why my first instinct was to hold onto the railing to not fall into the dugout. When the ball was coming down, that’s the only shot I had.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 3:44 PM.
