Mike Minor’s stellar start squandered by Kansas City Royals bullpen in loss to Orioles
Kansas City Royals veteran pitcher Mike Minor deserved a win on Wednesday night. He should’ve been on the field giving high fives after the final pitch, congratulating his teammates on a job well done.
Instead the Royals found a way to lose the seventh consecutive game started by Minor. This time, the 9-8 loss came after the left-hander shut down the Baltimore Orioles for six innings on their own turf at Camden Yards.
The outing marked his longest scoreless start since he tossed a seven-inning shutout for the Oakland Athletics against the Seattle Mariners in the second game of a doubleheader last Sept. 14.
“I felt in control the whole night,” Minor said. “I felt like I hit a lot of spots. I kept them off-balance. I kind of leaned on (catcher Salvador Perez) a lot because there was a lot of new hitters in the lineup that either didn’t have a whole lot of video or small sample size. He caught them the last couple games and he had more of a feel. I don’t think I shook Salvy, maybe one time tonight.”
Aside from former Royal Kelvin Gutierrez, Minor had not faced any of the batters in the starting lineup for the Orioles.
Minor didn’t walk a batter in a start for the sixth time this season. He has now had back-to-back starts without a walk for the first time this season. He struck out three. He allowed five hits, all singles.
Minor retired the first six batters he faced and held the top three hitters in the Orioles order hitless.
Minor stranded the bases loaded in the third inning after an error helped set the Orioles up in position to make some noise.
With two runners on and one out, Minor got Orioles All-Star leadoff hitter Cedric Mullins to hit a grounder sharply to first baseman Carlos Santana, who threw to second base in an effort to get the force out and potentially give them a chance at a double play.
Santana’s throw hit the base runner, Gutierrez, in the helmet, and all three men were safe. That left the bases loaded with one out and the Orioles No. 2 and No. 3 hitters, Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays due up.
Minor got Mountcastle to strike out swinging on a slider for the second out. Then he got Hays to swing and miss at a changeup to end the inning.
“Honestly, I just wanted a ground ball,” Minor said. “I thought maybe the changeup would get me a ground ball. I threw a good one that had good two-seam movement to it, away, and he swung through. After that, I felt like I could make some good pitches right there and try to get them to chase. … Even in that inning, I felt in control. I felt like I was still making pretty good pitches. I just had to keep doing that and I would eventually get out of it.”
He also stranded two more runners in the fourth.
“He followed me and he executed the pitches,” Perez said. “He was good today. We feel so bad we couldn’t have that win today, especially for him. If a starting pitcher pitches the way Minor pitched, we should win the game for him.”
The Royals gave up a 5-0 lead by allowing nine runs in the eighth inning. The Royals bullpen sustained its largest blown save since they coughed up a 6-0 lead on August 19, 2018, on the road against the Chicago White Sox.
Nine runs were the most the bullpen has allowed since the Red Sox scored 10 against the relief corps on July 1 at Fenway Park.
“He had everything going,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Minor. “The changeup was real effective. He did everything he needed to do and gave us a great opportunity. He had stress a couple times and got out of it in the third and fourth, both. He just figured out ways to keep the zero. He did exactly what we needed him to do. Our bullpen has been extremely good at putting games like that away, and today is just one of those ones that slipped.”
