Royals lose game and series to Indians after Junis, hit by line drive, leaves game
This has been a season of starts and stops for Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Jakob Junis. With the season now in its final month, he’d like to have a season representative of the work he’d put in during the offseason.
Unfortunately, Wednesday night was another time he wishes things could’ve played out differently and he could’ve seen through to the end for better or worse.
Junis came out of the game prematurely after getting hit with a ball batted back up the middle in the fourth inning after giving up a pair of early runs. The Cleveland Indians then added some late insurance runs as the Royals dropped the rubber match of their series 5-0 at Kauffman Stadium.
Indians outfielder Tyler Naquin’s second-inning two-run home run off Junis snapped an 0-for-10 slump, and he added a three-run blast in the ninth off Scott Barlow to provide all the Indians’ scoring. Naquin’s only other multi-home run game came against the Royals on July 20, 2016 at Kauffman Stadium. Eleven of his 31 career home runs have also come against the Royals.
“I was definitely looking forward to going deep into a game tonight with my low pitch count,” Junis said. “I don’t even know how many I was at when this happened. I felt like it was pretty low. I had a couple quick innings. It’s just unfortunate that it got cut short.”
Junis came out after four innings. He took a 106.9 mph line drive off the arm — near the bicep muscle — from Josh Naylor on the final play of the fourth inning. Junis fielded the ball and threw to first for the final out of the inning then came off the field, into the dugout and was followed by head trainer Nick Kenney as he walked down the dugout steps.
Junis (0-1) said he thought the arm would just be sore and would be okay in a couple days.
Junis threw 46 pitches (32 strikes) and allowed two runs — both on Naquin’s home run — and four hits.
Junis got a late start to the second spring training camp due to a COVID-19 infection, and he began the season on the injured list as he continued his throwing progression.
He also missed a game due to back spasms he experienced while warming up. He went on the IL in the aftermath of that incident, and he had made one start since returning before he was forced to make an early exit on Wednesday night.
“It would be nice for that not to happen tonight and maybe that next inning something clicks and I put it together and go on a little bit of a run,” Junis said. “You never know. You can’t play the guessing game. I’m not going to attribute it to that type of stuff. Hopefully, I’m sore for a couple days and get back to throwing a bullpen and get out there next week and try and piece it together.”
Right-hander Kyle Zimmer came on in relief in the fifth inning. He threw two scoreless innings. Josh Staumont and Jesse Hahn tossed one scoreless inning apiece. Tyler Zuber pitched 2/3 scoreless innings after Barlow.
The Royals (14-23) were held to four runs in the three-game series, including a 2-1 win in the series opener.
On a night when the Royals’ offense was blanked and star catcher Salvador Perez remained on the injured list with a left eye issue — he’s now missed the past 12 games — designated hitter Jorge Soler left the game due to right side oblique irritation and mid-back tightness. Ryan O’Hearn pinch-hit for Soler in the seventh inning.
Soler’s status is considered day-to-day. Royals manager Mike Matheny said Soler has been dealing with the issue for some time, but he initially responded well to treatment from the training staff.
“Frustrating night, borderline embarrassing from an offensive standpoint,” Royals outfielder/infielder Whit Merrifield said. “After last night, we were hoping to rebound in a pretty big way, and it didn’t happen. We’ve got to move on and forget about these last couple days and get ready for Chicago.”
Indians’ rookie pitcher Triston McKenzie, a right-hander, made his third MLB start and held the Royals scoreless through six innings. He allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter. He struck out six.
The Royals appeared poised to get at least one run and cut the deficit in half in the fifth inning when Ryan McBroom hit a one-out single and Alex Gordon followed with a double to right-center field to put runners on second and third.
Adalberto Mondesi crushed a ball right at Indians first baseman Carlos Santana. McBroom, who appeared to be running on contact, but he stopped and tried to retreat to third base. His hesitancy allowed Santana to step on first for the force out and throw across the diamond in time to tag McBroom sliding back into third to end the inning.
“We’re wanting to draw a throw there before the tag,” Matheny said. “He kind of froze, I think, kind of reading whether that ball was going to be caught. Then he’s just kind of stuck when he saw it hit the glove of Santana.
“We need him to commit a little bit more towards the plate to where he draws the throw to give time to get in the rundown after that to where we can advance Gordo and Mondi to second and third. Then we’re in the exact same situation with an extra out. But that’s more of an instinct play.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 9:45 PM.
