‘I’m not a robot’: Kansas City Royals’ impressive rookie pitcher has rough night vs A’s
As impressive and dominant as Kansas City Royals rookie pitcher Carlos Hernández has looked at times or during stretches this season as he has made leaps and bounds worth of progress, he’s still going to have off nights.
Hernández had given up just seven earned runs in his previous 30 2/3 innings (five outings) entering Wednesday night’s clash with the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium.
Then the Athletics got to him for seven runs in just four innings in one game on their way to beating the Royals 12-10 in the second game of their three-game series. Hernández have up a career-high nine hits and walked four batters in four innings. He threw 87 pitches (49 strikes) in that span.
“It’s about working hard,” the 24-year-old Hernández said of the lessons he took from the start. “Don’t put your head down. These days are always going to happen. I’m not a robot, and there are some good days and some bad days.”
The Athletics took advantage of Hernández (6-2) giving away free bases early. He walked four batters combined between the second and third innings, and two of those runners came around to score as the Royals fell behind 3-1 after three innings.
Hernández gave up two in the second when Elvis Andrus lined a 3-2 fastball into left field with two outs and runners on second and third. Hernández came within one pitch of getting out of the inning unscathed. Instead, he gave the Athletics a 2-1 lead.
“He just never really got into his groove, never really got anything going,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “The slider never really got going. He got his curveball going at one point. His curveball going at one point and that was starting to become a good pitch for him. The fastball at times showed the kind of life [you want], but he was working behind in the counts a lot with everything. That’s a hard way to pitch. It’s just one of those days.”
The Athletics tacked on a run in the third, and they added two more with two outs in the fourth courtesy of a Matt Olson two-run homer. The Royals trailed 5-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Adalberto Mondesi’s grounder to second base allowed one run to score, and Hanser Alberto lined a two-run bases-loaded single up the middle to pull the Royals within a run, 5-4, in the bottom of the fourth.
However, Hernández gave up a pair of singles to start the fifth and he turned the game over to the bullpen. Both of the runners he left on base scored after he exited the game.
Eight of the hits he allowed were singles.
The loss was his first loss since July 18, and it snapped a streak of nine appearances (eight starts) during which he’d posted a 5-0 record and the Royals went 8-1.
The home run he gave up to Olson marked the first he’d allowed since Aug. 16. That snapped a career-best 27 2/3-inning streak without having allowed a home run.
Hernández described the day as “difficult” and said he had trouble locating his slider and his changeup.
“I learned a lot today from that,” Hernández said.
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 1:08 AM.
