Lopez delivers go-ahead run in 8th inning as Kansas City Royals beat the Indians
Nicky Lopez lined a 3-2 cutter into left-center field, made the mad dash to third base and slid in safely with an RBI triple as he pumped his fist towards the Kansas City Royals’ dugout and clapped his hands in celebration as Whit Merrifield scored the go-ahead run.
Lopez’s eighth-inning RBI triple put the Royals in position for their series-opening 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night in front of an announced 11,670 at Kauffman Stadium. Lopez scored from third on a wild pitch to provide an insurance run going into the final inning.
“I like playing with a lot of emotion,” Lopez said. “I like having fun, something that I don’t think was lost last year or the year before but it’s one of those things that that’s the way I have to play. That’s the way that I feel like best suits me. It just came out. It was just natural. ... I was just happy to deliver for the team.”
The Royals (72-85) got 8 1/3 innings from their bullpen after starting pitcher Brady Singer came out of the game with an injury in the first inning. Andrew Benintendi and Salvador Perez each hit home runs, including Perez’s MLB-leading 47th of the season. He went 2 for 3 with three runs scored.
Singer came out of the game because of “upper right arm discomfort” with two outs and two strikes on Bradley Zimmer. After his 18th pitch, teammates Merrifield and Perez approached the mound having noticed something. Royals manager Mike Matheny and head athletic trainer Nick Kenney immediately came out of the dugout and to the mound.
Singer came out of the game, and veteran relief pitcher Ervin Santana emerged from the bullpen.
Santana pitched three scoreless innings as the first of six relief pitchers used by the Royals.
“Incredible,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Start with Erv and how good he has been in that role. It might be one of the toughest roles in baseball, to go 10 days without seeing the field and come in and situations like that and be able to get us into the middle part of the game.
“[Dylan] Coleman continues to impress us, right on to [Gabe] Speier, to [Domingo] Tapia, [Jake] Brentz and then Josh [Staumont] finishing it up, the guys carrying us in that game.”
The Indians took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on three hits against Singer before he left the game with Kenney.
The Royals cut into that lead in the bottom half of the inning after Perez drew a two-out walk and Benintendi smacked his 17th home run of the season. Benintendi turned on a 1-1 fastball from Indians starting pitcher Aaron Civale and deposited it 381 feet away in the right-field stands.
Perez played a key role in tying the score in the fourth inning. He led off with a double to center field and hustled in order to narrowly beat the throw to second base. He tagged and advanced on a deep fly ball to right field, and he scored on Carlos Santana’s sacrifice fly.
Perez’s sixth-inning solo home run gave the Royals a 4-3 advantage.
That lead lasted until the eighth inning when Royals reliever Jake Brentz gave up a run on two hits after he retired the first batter of the inning. Oscar Mercado lined a pinch-hit single into right field. Then Yu Chang ripped an RBI double into right-center field.
Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor cut the ball off before it got to the wall and got it in quickly. The relay throw by second baseman Merrifield hit the mound, otherwise the Royals had a very good chance of throwing out Mercado at the plate. Mercado’s run tied the game 4-4.
The score remained tied until the eighth. Merrifield’s one-out single prompted Indians interim manager DeMarlo Hale to bring in reliever Brian Shaw to face the left-handed hitting Lopez.
“Lefties don’t really like him very much because he has that cutter that he likes to throw,” Lopez said. “So actually when he was coming into the game I asked Terry [Bradshaw] and (John Mabry) should I try to hit the four hole or five hole. Do I try to hit it the other way or do I try to pull the cutter if he throws it in?”
Lopez fell behind 0-2 in that at-bat, having taken a cutter for a called strike and then having fouled another off. When he got back to 3-2, he expected Shaw would come right at him.
Oh, and what was the verdict from the coaches Bradshaw and Mabry on how he should handle the cutter? What battle plan did they settle upon after crunching the data and analyzing the scouting reports?
“They were like, ‘Just do what you’ve been doing,’” Lopez said. “I was like, alright. Cool. I’m just going to go up there and try to have a good at-bat.”
The teams continue their three-game series on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. The pitching matchup will feature Royals rookie left-hander Daniel Lynch (4-6, 5.40) against Indians right-hander Zach Plesac (10-6, 4.54).
This story was originally published September 28, 2021 at 10:55 PM.
