Minor is out-dueled as Kansas City Royals lose opener to Wainwright and Cardinals
The starting pitching matchup Friday night featured two starters with a combined age of 72, and Kansas City Royals left-hander Mike Minor was the youngster of the two at 33. He made his team-high 23rd start of the season and the 270th of his career.
However, Minor gave up a run in four of the first five innings, and his St. Louis Cardinals counterpart Adam Wainwright made those runs stand up for seven innings before handing off to the bullpen.
Coming off a series victory in Chicago against the White Sox, the Royals fell 4-2 to the Cardinals in the first game of a three-game series in front of an announced 29,090 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Royals (47-61) had won back-to-back games entering the series.
The game marked the first of six this season between the cross-state rivals. The Cardinals will visit KC next weekend for a three-game set.
Wainwright, a 39-year-old right-hander, made his 349th start in the majors and earned the victory to notch the 11th 10-win season of his career. He held the Royals to two runs on seven hits in seven innings.
“He was really good early on, just keeping guys off balance,” Royals first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn said of Wainwright. “He’s got that really slow curveball. Obviously, he knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t throw many balls in the middle of the plate.”
The Royals’ lineup missed All-Star catcher Salvador Perez, who was scratched from the lineup because of a non-COVID related illness. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi, who left Tuesday’s game with a shoulder strain, came off the bench and had one at-bat as a pinch hitter in his first appearance since his injury.
O’Hearn went 2 for 3 with a triple and a run scored for KC. Hunter Dozier went 1 for 3 with an RBI, while Cam Gallagher started in place of Perez and doubled.
Minor gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks in five innings. He gave up two home runs, and he also struck out seven.
“I made some mistakes, got hurt with the home runs,” Minor said. “Some of the pitches we had on the report as them not hitting as well, and they hit them. I feel like I had too many three-ball counts. That’s why the pitch count got pretty high and got out (after) the fifth.
“I didn’t think they offered at a lot of pitches, especially the slider. They didn’t really swing. That kind of got me in holes. I didn’t throw it enough for strikes.”
Paul Goldschmidt gave the Cardinals an early lead with a two-out solo home run to center field in the bottom of the first inning, his first homer since July 23.
The Cardinals (54-55) added to that lead in the second inning after the first two batters of the inning reached, and then Paul DeJong singled on a one-out grounder that got through the infield and into left field.
The Royals left the bases loaded in the fourth inning when Emmanuel Rivera grounded sharply up the middle into a shifted defense for an inning-ending forceout.
In the bottom of the fourth, Tyler O’Neill’s leadoff homer to center field increased the Royals’ deficit to three runs. O’Neill went 4 for 4 with two runs scored.
The Cardinals tacked on another in the fifth. Minor gave up a one-out double to Dylan Carlson, and Goldschmidt’s RBI single to left field drove Carlson in as the fourth run.
“I felt like we had the game plan, but they did a good job of knowing me and watching video of me, maybe, and knowing what I like to do,” Minor said. “I felt like they were kind of sitting on stuff.”
Wainwright gave up two runs in the sixth as the Royals pulled within striking distance thanks to four consecutive hits.
Carlos Santana’s opposite-field single started the string, followed by O’Hearn’s RBI triple into the right-center-field gap, a Dozier RBI single up the middle and a Rivera single into left field.
Wainwright stranded the last two on base to end the inning, but the Royals shrunk the four-run lead to two runs, 4-2.
O’Hearn’s triple was one of two extra-base hits against Wainwright.
“He’s in a confident spot,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of O’Hearn. “That’s the first time we’ve really seen him like that, and it’s something you just want to keep building on. He hit the ball hard a couple times, and, obviously, getting us on the board is big when you’ve got that zero sitting up there. We’re just trying to get some momentum. Triples are good for that.”
The Royals bullpen triumvirate of Domingo Tapia, Greg Holland and Wade Davis pitched a scoreless inning each. The Royals didn’t have a hit in the final three innings.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 10:24 PM.
