Kris Bubic shines as KC Royals win nail-biter, take series against Tigers in Detroit
The Royals created a bevy of scoring chances and made good on just enough of them for starting pitcher Kris Bubic and the Kansas City relief staff to make those runs stand up.
The Royals clinched the season series with the Detroit Tigers with their series-opening win, and they won the weekend’s three-game series on Sunday with a 2-1 win over the Tigers in front of an announced 23,788 at Comerica Park.
Bubic pitched seven scoreless innings, and relief pitchers Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow, who recorded his 16th save, held on to secure the victory for the Royals (71-84).
The Tigers scored a run in the ninth and then put the tying and winning runs in scoring position with one out against Barlow, and Barlow struck out Harold Castro swinging on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to end it.
Of the 19 games between the teams this season, 14 were decided by two runs or fewer.
“We had a chance to break it open a couple times today and just couldn’t do it,” Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield said. “But credit to them for staying in and credit to us for doing enough to win.”
Merrifield went 3 for 5 with two doubles and a run scored. The All-Star was also robbed of a home run in his final at-bat in the top of the ninth.
Merrifield’s first hit, in the first at-bat of the game, pushed him past Carlos Beltran for 15th on the franchise’s all-time hit list and made him the eighth player in Royals history with 900 hits and 100 stolen bases. The others: George Brett, Frank White, Amos Otis, Willie Wilson, Hal McRae, Alcides Escobar and Fred Patek.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez (2 for 5, double) and left fielder Andrew Benintendi (2 for 5, double, RBI) had two hits apiece, while backup catcher Cam Gallagher doubled and scored a run.
The Royals left 11 men on base in the win. Though the missed opportunities nearly came back to bite them with the Tigers ninth-inning rally.
“It’s just we’ve got a two-run lead going into the ninth, they scratched across one and we needed to do what we could to not let them score another one,” Merrifield said. “That’s pretty much all it boils down to. You can’t think about what has happened in previous innings and what you could have done to get more runs or whatever. Just stay in the moment and do enough to win the game.”
After having been limited to one run on Saturday night, the Royals started the scoring early on Sunday. Merrifield’s leadoff double and Lopez’s bunt single put runners on first and third with one out when Benintendi lined an RBI double into right field.
Benintendi recorded his 24th RBI to give him his highest one-month RBI total of any month in his career. He entered the day with the fourth-most RBIs of any AL player in September, and he’d slashed .348/.381/.562 for the month.
The Royals stranded the bases loaded in the first inning after Adalberto Mondesi grounded into a fielder’s choice and Hunter Dozier struck out.
Tigers starting pitcher Wily Peralta, who played for the Royals in 2018-19, entered the day having pitched 16 consecutive scoreless innings.
Peralta kept the Royals off the board in the second and third innings, including when he stranded the bases loaded for a second time in the third inning. He threw 68 pitches in the first three innings but stranded seven and allowed just one run.
“There was pressure, but we also missed opportunities,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “In the first and the third, we had chance to put up crooked numbers and had them on the ropes a little bit. The next thing you know, it’s less runs than what we probably should have had.”
The Royals added to their lead in the fourth. Cam Gallagher roped a leadoff double into the right-field corner, advanced to third on a Merrifield single and scored on a Nicky Lopez sacrifice fly.
The Tigers made their ninth-inning push, but Barlow withstood it.
“A couple opportunities got away today and that usually haunts us,” Matheny said. “Fortunately, the pitching was good enough to let the two (runs) be good enough.”
The Royals originally had a scheduled day off Monday. Instead, they will travel to Cleveland to play the makeup game from last Wednesday’s rainout.
First pitch for the rescheduled game will be at 12:10 p.m. CT. The pitching matchup will feature Royals rookie right-hander Jackson Kowar (0-4, 11.45) against Indians right-hander Cal Quantrill (7-3, 2.82).
This story was originally published September 26, 2021 at 2:46 PM.
