Bats go silent and Bubic struggles as Kansas City Royals get blanked by Texas Rangers
With five games remaining on their current road trip, the Kansas City Royals have now lost four in a row after getting blanked by the Texas Rangers on Saturday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
Royals batters were handcuffed for most of the game and collected just three hits. Meanwhile, Rangers slugger Joey Gallo launched a pair of home runs that accounted for five of the runs scored against Royals pitching.
The Royals were shut out 8-0 in the second game of their three-game series in front of an announced 31,612 at Globe Life Field. The Royals hadn’t been shut out since May 7.
The Rangers first three runs came against left-hander Kris Bubic, who pitched just 2/3 of an inning.
“I just couldn’t get in a rhythm with anything,” Bubic said. “All three pitches were just kind of a grind to get up there today. Just flat-out simple. Last time, I did my job. Today, I didn’t. It’s as simple as that. The few times I got ahead, I couldn’t really put anybody away. Then I fell behind, and you know what happens.”
The Royals (33-42) have been outscored 17-4 in the first two games of the series, and they’ve dropped their second series in a row. They’ll try to avoid a series sweep on Sunday afternoon when they play the third game of the set.
They’ll then wrap up their road trip with four games in Boston.
After a scoreless first inning from “opener” Kyle Zimmer, Bubic gave up three runs in the second inning on three hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Bubic recorded just two outs and threw 40 pitches.
Bubic’s previous outing, in relief of Brady Singer on Tuesday night in New York, had been one of his best in the majors. He came in and got out of a bases-loaded jam, then went on to pitch another two scoreless innings.
“Even when I feel like I don’t have anything, I’m still able to go in there and fight and kind of get what I can out of it,” Bubic said. “But today was just one of those days where I couldn’t get in a rhythm. It’s not necessarily back to the drawing board. It’s just think about what I did well, if anything today, and go back to that feeling.”
Saturday, Bubic got off to a bumpy start. He hit the first batter he faced, Willie Calhoun, and then a well-placed bunt single by Nick Solak put the first two men on base.
After a fielder’s choice, Jose Trevino’s two-run double got the Rangers into the scoring column. Bubic walked the next batter, then Adolis Garcia’s RBI single up the middle drove in the third run. Bubic went to a full count and walked Gallo, his final batter, before Mike Matheny turned to the bullpen.
“He had trouble being on the plate. Obviously, the hit batsman just kind of sent him in a bad direction,” Royals manager Matheny said of Bubic. “After that, a number of pitches in the middle of the plate. This is the part of the lineup where once you give up free bases, you get to the power part of their lineup, and they’re going to hurt you and they’re going to cause damage. We saw that happen today, especially when you get balls too much in the middle of the plate.”
Bubic gave way to Ervin Santana with the bases loaded in the second and two outs. Santana recorded the final out of the inning and retired the side in order in the third.
Gallo doubled the Royals’ deficit with two men on and two out in the fourth inning. Gallo blasted a Santana fastball an estimated 451 feet to center field for a three-run home run.
Gallo added a two-run homer in the eighth off of Wade Davis to close out the scoring.
Rangers starting pitcher and former University of Missouri standout Kyle Gibson held the Royals scoreless for seven innings. He allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out 10, his third career 10-strikeout game.
“We keep talking to some of these pitchers — the ones who have effectiveness in the bottom of the zone — and this guy put on a display of what that looks like, how to execute,” Matheny said. “I remember one pitch, maybe, that he tried to elevate on. And he did. He got a strikeout on an elevated four-seam fastball. Then right down to the bottom.”
Ryan O’Hearn and Kelvin Gutierrez notched the only hits against Gibson. Gutierrez snapped an 1-for-27 slide with his fifth-inning infield single to third base.
The Royals best scoring opportunity came in the fifth inning when both O’Hearn and Gutierrez reached to start the inning and Jorge Soler walked to load the bases with no outs. However, Jarrod Dyson struck out and Michael A. Taylor grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“I think anytime you’ve got bases loaded and less than two outs or nobody out or whatever it was, you’ve got to capitalize and make it a game to win,” O’Hearn said. “... You’ve got to make it happen at that point.”
Whit Merrifield, who came out of the game in the sixth inning, saw his hitting streak end at 11 games.
This story was originally published June 26, 2021 at 7:10 PM.
