Despite Salvador Perez’s return, Kansas City Royals lose second in a row to Cardinals
The Kansas City Royals got a lift with the return of All-Star catcher Salvador Perez to the lineup, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a bumpy outing by starting pitcher Brad Keller and a stellar night by the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen.
The Royals dropped the second game in a row to the Cardinals, 5-2 on Saturday night in front of an announced 36,615 at Busch Stadium in the first leg of the I-70 series. The Royals will try to avoid being swept in the three-game set on Sunday afternoon.
Keller (7-11) gave up five runs and walked five in five innings in his first start since back tightness forced him out of a start against the Toronto Blue Jays. He also struck out five.
He struggled with command, particularly with his fastball, and came out after pitching into the sixth inning. Royals manager Mike Matheny described it as “amazing” Keller competed as far into the game as he did without command of his fastball from the start.
“I felt like my slider and my changeup really kept me in that game, which is super-unfortunate because it kept me in the game so long to give me so many opportunities to find the fastball and just felt like I never could,” Keller said.
Perez went 0 for 4 after missing the series opener because of a non-COVID-related illness on Friday night. He’d played in every game this season prior to Friday.
Even with Perez’s bat back in the middle of the order — he’s already matched his single-season career high with 27 home runs — the Royals (47-62) collected only five hits and three came in the same inning.
Royals infielder Hanser Alberto went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Michael A. Taylor (1 for 4) also drove in a run.
Keller exited his previous start in Toronto on Sunday after three innings due to lower back tightness. Prior to that, he’d strung together four consecutive quality starts in July. In all four July starts, Keller pitched into the seventh inning as he compiled a 1-1 record with a 2.28 ERA and a .194 opponent’s batting average.
“I think it’s all gone,” Keller said of the back issue. “We kind of messed around with my routine in between starts, but I don’t think that has anything to do with how tonight went. I didn’t feel anything in my back, warming up, pitching. I just felt like I got out of sync.”
Saturday night, Keller clearly struggled to locate his fastball from the start. That led to a pair of walks to start the game. Despite having put the first two batters on, Keller came within an out of escaping the inning unscathed.
The third batter, Nolan Arenado, hit a bouncer back to the mound. Keller fielded the ball, but didn’t haul it in cleanly. Instead of a potential double play, he got the lone out at first base and left runners on second and third with one out.
He struck out Tyler O’Neill to get to two outs, but then Yadier Molina dropped a two-run single into right field. Royals right fielder Hunter Dozier got a late read on the ball after temporarily losing it in the sun.
“The first was really important,” Matheny said. “We got a comebacker that’s a double-play ball. Then we get to two outs and we get a ball that’s lost in the sun. That’s a pop-up to right field that ends up scoring two runs. That’s a huge swing right there.”
The two-run deficit lasted until the fourth inning when the Royals scored a pair of runs with two outs after a Dozier single and Emmanuel Rivera’s first walk in the majors.
Taylor’s RBI single scored Dozier to get the Royals on the board. Then Alberto smacked a single into left that scored Rivera to tie the score 2-2. The throw to the plate beat Rivera, but Cardinals catcher Molina didn’t glove the throw cleanly.
The Royals scored both their runs against Cardinals starting pitcher Kwang Hyun Kim, who only pitched four innings.
“Every time we score runs and we’ve got men on base, that’s our expectation — to score runs and try to keep going,” Alberto said. “We only scored in that inning, but we fought all the way through the last out.”
The lead swung back to the Cardinals (55-55) in the bottom half of the inning on a pinch-hit RBI double by Matt Carpenter with one out and two on. Carpenter ripped a double to the wall in right field, but Dozier quickly threw to the relay man Whit Merrifield, who threw home where Perez tagged the trail runner, Tommy Edman.
But the Royals had just one hit in five innings against the Cardinals bullpen.
“They’ve been making quality pitches,” Alberto said of the Cardinals relievers. “They throw hard, and they’ve got good breaking balls. I think they’ve been putting the ball in good spots.”
Arenado’s solo homer off Keller made it a two-run game, 4-2, in the fifth.
Then Cardinals chased Keller without him having recorded an out in sixth. They started the inning with four consecutive hits — two against Keller and two against reliever Josh Staumont — but scored just one run. Staumont stranded the bases loaded.
Royals reliever Ervin Santana allowed one hit in the final two innings.
This story was originally published August 7, 2021 at 9:42 PM.
