Kansas City Royals take advantage of Orioles’ miscues to win first game of doubleheader
After three days off, the Kansas City Royals’ offense didn’t light the world on fire. But it sure was opportunistic as the Royals turned three Baltimore Orioles errors into three unearned runs — more than enough to swing the outcome of Sunday’s first game.
Nicky Lopez reached on an error with two outs in the ninth inning and that sparked a two-run inning that broke a tie and lifted the Royals to a 6-4 victory over the Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon.
The teams’ Friday and Saturday games were washed out by rain.
The victory marked the 700th in the managerial career of Royals skipper Mike Matheny, who actually wasn’t aware of the milestone until informed of it after the game by Royals Hall of Famer Mike Sweeney.
Matheny called it “pretty cool.”
He became the 10th active manager with 700 wins. He recorded 591 during his managerial tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Michael A. Taylor, who came off the bench to replace an injured Edward Olivares, drove in Lopez with the go-ahead run in the ninth inning. Taylor went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run.
Salvador Perez had two hits (2 for 5) and an RBI. Andrew Benintendi (2 for 4, run, RBI), Bobby Witt Jr. (2 for 4) and Kyle Isbel (2 for 4, double, two runs) also had two hits apiece.
“Bobby and Izzy both were really making things happen,” Matheny said. “Nicky getting on base ... That’s kind of how we’ll have to do this, just next man up. It can start at any point in the lineup. Fortunately, the young guys at the bottom were making things happen.”
Royals pitcher Zack Greinke started the game but left with a runner on and two out in the sixth inning. With the Royals leading 3-2, reliever Collin Snider came on and threw one pitch to get an inning-ending ground ball.
Snider ran into trouble in the seventh, though. He gave up a two-out walk to Austin Hays followed by a single up the middle by Ryan Mountcastle. Then Rougned Odor’s bloop up the left-field line landed right on the foul line for a two-run double that flipped the Royals one-run lead to a one-run deficit.
The Royals evened the score in the eighth inning when Benintendi and Perez hit back-to-back singles. Benintendi went from first to third on Perez’s single and Benintendi scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan O’Hearn.
Then, with two outs and the score still tied in the top of the ninth, Lopez reached on a fielding error on a ground ball to Odor at second base. That ground ball could easily have ended the inning and kept the score tied going into the bottom of the ninth.
Instead, Lopez was on first base with two outs. He’d soon advance all the way to third on an errant pickoff attempt.
Taylor’s RBI single into left field scored Lopez with the go-ahead run. Benintendi then lined his second hit of the day into left field for a single, and Perez swatted a single into right to drive in Taylor for the Royals’ sixth run.
“Real big hits to take advantage of a play that gets a guy on base and then moves him up,” Matheny said. “Then Michael had to come through with a big hit. Salvy coming through with a big hit, too. Just trying not to do too much, take what they’re given. That gave us a couple runs, gave us a little breathing room. It was a really nice job.”
Greinke allowed two runs on 10 hits and no walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three in a no-decision.
“The weather was crazy again,” Greinke said. “It’s like that every game, it seems like. There were a couple balls hit soft that ended up being base hits and then a couple balls hit hard ended up being a could’ve-been homer and then ended up not being (a homer). It sort of evened out a little bit, I think.”
In the fifth inning, Greinke narrowly avoided giving up a two-run home run to Mountcastle that would’ve tied the score 3-3. Instead, Mountcastle’s blast to left field hit off the top of the wall and went for an RBI double to make it 3-2.
The initial call of a double was upheld upon review as the ball hit the top of the wall, which was moved back and made taller this past offseason.
Greinke stranded seven men on base through the first five innings. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning without allowing a run.
“I just tried to make pitches,” Greinke said of working around runners. “Even that ball Mountcastle hit, it was kind of sort of what I was wanting to do. He just put a good swing on it.
“I kept thinking, when guys were on base, don’t make a mistake now. Keep making pitches and it won’t be that bad. I can’t think of a time I ended up making a mistake with that (thought) process.”
Olivares injured
Olivares left the game in the top of the third inning with a right quad strain after he singled up the middle in his second at-bat to drive in the Royals’ first run and tie the score at 1.
Olivares pulled up awkwardly as he touched first base. Manager Mike Matheny and head athletic trainer Kyle Turner came out of the dugout and onto the field to check on Olivares.
After taking a few strides up the right-field foul line, Olivares came off the field with Matheny and Turner. Taylor emerged from the dugout moments later as a pinch-runner.
Olivares’ single drove in Isbel, who doubled to right field with one out. Isbel started in center field and moved over to right field when Taylor entered the game and took over in center.
Matheny said Olivares’ injury occurred in the outfield while Olivares was pursuing a ball hit into the right-center field gap.
“We’re going to get a better look at him,” Matheny said. “But right now, it didn’t look good, especially for a guy who is a runner. We’ve got to see where it is. Get some doctors to take a look at him, get a couple more tests.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 4:06 PM.
