Early exit for Brady Singer and Mike Matheny as Royals get blanked by Cardinals
Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny earned his first ejection since he became the skipper in Kansas City last October, and he did it on his 50th birthday in front of an empty stadium in the final week of the most unique regular season in recent history against the club he previously managed and for which he also played five seasons.
It certainly wasn’t a night that warranted a lot of celebration from the home team. Rookie starting pitcher Brady Singer turned in his shortest out of the season, which led directly to Matheny’s early exit, and two innings later relief pitcher Kyle Zimmer left the game flanked by head athletic trainer Nick Kenney in the middle of an at-bat.
The Royals dropped the second game of their three-game I-70 series against the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0, in the Salute to the Negro Leagues Game at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night. The teams wore throwback uniforms — the St. Louis Stars and the Kansas City Monarchs — as they honored the 100th annivesary of the founding of the Negro Leagues.
The loss assured the Royals (22-33) they can do no better than a split of the season series with their in-state rivals. The teams will conclude their series on Wednesday night.
Singer (3-5) entered the night having pitched 14 consecutive scoreless innings with 16 strikeouts and three walks in his previous two starts against the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.
His streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings was the longest active streak by an American League starter as of the start of play on Tuesday.
“He didn’t have his command today,” Matheny said of Singer. “You’re going to have days like that, but every pitcher goes through that. You’ve to figure out ways to get it done. He was working to try and get there. Unfortunately, he either wasn’t getting the calls or wasn’t making the pitches that he needed to. He got into a tough spot. That’s not who Brady has been. He has had such great control.”
Singer didn’t record an out in the fourth inning before the Royals’ bullpen took over. Singer gave up three runs on three hits a season-high five walks and a hit batter. He threw 81 pitches (44 strikes).
Cardinals rookie outfielder Dylan Carlson lined a leadoff triple to right field in the fourth inning, and Matheny removed Singer from the game.
Before Matheny headed back to the dugout, he exchanged words with home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez. Gonzalez ejected Matheny and another member of the umpiring crew got between Matheny and Gonzalez as Matheny barked furiously about Gonzalez’s calls behind the plate.
“Walking off the field and I basically tell him that I thought he was squeezing the kid, made it harder for him than what he needed to,” Matheny said. “He didn’t reply. He asked me who the (new) pitcher was. I told him to figure it out himself. That’s about how that whole thing went, and I can’t really tell you how that whole thing went.”
Matheny’s ejection marked the 18th of his career, 16th as a manager and first since Aug. 16, 2017.
The Cardinals (27-25) snapped Singer’s scoreless streak in the second inning. Singer walked the first two batters of the inning, which prompted a mound visit from pitching coach Cal Eldred, then Carlson lined a two-run double that one-hopped off the right-center field wall.
“I got the first two batters out, and I felt like I was commanding the ball,” Singer said. “They were spitting on some good pitches. I felt like it was a really good at-bat with (Paul) Goldschmidt there in the first. That first walk. After watching that at-bat, I kind of saw what they were doing.
“They were being really patient, waiting for their pitch in the zone. I tried to get ahead in the count. I was kind of missing some of those borderline calls. I felt like I could’ve attacked more, but the command was struggling tonight.”
The Cardinals weren’t done as Kolten Wong added a one-out RBI single and Tommy Edman drew another walk as Singer’s pitch count rose sharply. Right-handed reliever Jake Newberry began warming in the Royals’ bullpen by the time there were two outs in the second.
Singer threw 60 pitches through the first two innings. One of the outs recorded in the second came on the bases as Salvador Perez threw out Wong attempting to steal second. In the third, Singer hit the first first batter of the inning, but stranded a runner on third.
“(The strike zone) seemed pretty tight,” Singer said. “I don’t really know why.”
Singer admitted he did say something to Gonzalez on his way to the dugout after he’d been taken out, but he declined to share what he said.
After Singer’s removal and Matheny’s ejection, Newberry took over in the fourth and stranded Carlson to keep the score 3-0.
The Cardinals added a run in the fifth on a Brad Miller RBI double, and they pushed their advantage to five runs in the sixth on Edman’s sacrifice fly to score Carlson. Carlson reached on a single against Tyler Zuber, who came in with a 1-2 count after Zimmer left the game.
Bench coach Pedro Grifol, Perez and Kenney went to the mound to check on Zimmer, who appeared to be flexing his pitching hand. Zimmer, a former first-round draft pick who battled a litany of injuries, left having pitched one inning (22 pitches).
Zimmer experienced what the club called a “zinger” earlier this season where he felt numbness. Matheny said Zimmer felt something similar on Tuesday night only in a different spot. Initial imaging came back “clean.” Matheny said they’d be cautious with Zimmer at this point.
Cardinals left-hander Austin Gomber (1-1) pitched six scoreless innings and didn’t walk a batter. He gave up four hits and struck out three.
Edward Olivared went 2 for 2 with a walk, and Adalberto Mondesi tripled. Perez’s nine-game hitting streak came to an end.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 10:23 PM.
