Andrew Benintendi’s clutch hitting lifts Kansas City Royals to victory over Brewers
Andrew Benintendi’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a scoreless tie and delivered the winning run as the Kansas City Royals started their home stand with an interleague victory.
The Royals tacked on an insurance run courtesy of a throwing error on a ground ball hit by Salvador Perez, and reliever Josh Staumont pitched a scoreless ninth to close out a 2-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of an announced 9,298 at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night. The Royals won at home for the first time since April 21.
The game also included the return of former Royals All-Star center fielder and current Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain to Kauffman Stadium.
Benintendi, who went 1 for 4 in the game, came through against the National League’s most dominant relief pitcher last season, Devin Williams. Benintendi got a 1-0 changeup from Williams and swatted it into right field.
“I was just trying to, honestly, just hit a single,” Benintendi said of his approach. “I’m not trying to do too much in that situation because Whit (Merrifield) has got good speed at second base. Get a pitch I could handle, put a good swing on it and stay up the middle.”
Merrifield had gotten the ball rolling in the eighth against Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff (2-2) when he drew a two-out walk on four pitches and Carlos Santana got hit by a pitch. Brewers manager Craig Counsell turned to Williams to face Benintendi with two on and two out.
Williams, a right-hander from Hazelwood, Missouri, registered a 0.33 ERA last season. He allowed one earned run in 22 appearances across 27 innings and opponents batted .090 against him on his way to earning last year’s National League Rookie of the Year and Reliever of the Year awards.
When Benintendi connected, Merrifield raced from second base to score on a bang-bang play at the plate. Video replay upheld the safe call on the field.
“I couldn’t tell,” Benintendi said of Merrifield scoring. “I was on my way to second base. Then when they did the replay, it looked close. It looked like he got his mitt right underneath, but I couldn’t tell. In that situation, I think the initial call is huge.”
The Royals (19-22) were left furious and frustrated by a replay review that didn’t overturn a call in their most recent game on Sunday. The failure to overturn the call prompted manager Mike Matheny to make critical comments of the entire MLB replay system.
When asked if he was holding his breath over the review of that the play at the plate with Merrifield, Matheny gave a coy smirk and replied, “Uh, nope. I’ve got the utmost trust and respect in the replay process.”
The final at-bat of the game in the top of the ninth inning took an unexpected turn that included home plate umpire Brian Gorman ejecting both the batter, Avisail Garcia, and Brewers manager Craig Counsell with a 2-2 count after Garcia vehemently protested a check swing that was called strike two on appeal to first base umpire Adrian Johnson.
Daniel Vogelbach stepped in to finish the at-bat and struck out swinging to end the game.
Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic twirled six scoreless with just one hit allowed and two walks. He struck out four. The lone hit came on a liner that third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez gloved, but couldn’t hold onto. Both walks came in the sixth inning.
“He’s just in a real good rhythm,” Matheny said of Bubic. “I think you can see the big differences. He’s just not overthrowing. He’s trusting his stuff. He’s not trying to pick, not trying to reach back for any extra. But it’s got plenty of life, especially when he starts mixing in his off-speed. It was just a beautiful display of pitching.”
The second inning included a 21-minute rain delay that came with Gutierrez on base and Michael A. Taylor at the plate with two outs. When play resumed, the Royals put two men on after a replay review overturned an out call that would’ve ended the inning. However, they weren’t able to push a run across.
The Royals didn’t put two men on in the same inning again until the eighth.
Bubic has now allowed a run in his last 17 2/3 innings, including two extended relief outings of five innings or more leading up to his first start of the season on Tuesday night.
“In terms of approach and mindset, the job didn’t change for me,” Bubic said. “Like I’ve said before, my job is to get zeros whether that comes in the first inning through the fifth or sixth or late in the game. That job always stays that same.”
Last season, Bubic completed six innings or more in just two of his 10 starts. His only other major-league start without giving up an earned run came against the Brewers in Milwaukee on September 19.
Royals reliever Jake Brentz (1-0) pitched 1/3 of an inning and earned his first major-league win.
Pitchers Tyler Zuber and Scott Barlow also contributed to the shutout in relief roles.
This story was originally published May 18, 2021 at 10:38 PM.
