Carlos Hernández’s outing falls apart as Kansas City Royals lose finale in Baltimore
On the only sunny and dry day the Kansas City Royals saw during a rain-altered and extended stay in Baltimore, the floodgates opened for their hosts.
A nightmarish fifth inning for the Royals and starting pitcher Carlos Hernández served as a turning point Monday afternoon as the Orioles erased a one-run deficit, scored six runs and knocked Hernández out of what had been shaping up to be his best start of the season.
The Royals lost the rubber match of their three-game series with the Orioles 6-1 in front of an announced 9,438 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It makeup game for Saturday’s rainout. The teams were originally scheduled to have the day off.
Instead the Royals (9-17) dropped the series-deciding game and have lost seven of their past nine.
Salvador Perez went 2 for 4 with a double to record his third consecutive two-hit game for the Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. (1 for 5) had a hit, a stolen base and scored a run. Ryan O’Hearn (1 for 3) had the club’s lone RBI. Rookie catcher MJ Melendez (1 for 3) had a hit and a walk.
Hernández (0-2) allowed six earned runs, seven hits, two walks, one hit batter and one wild pitch in 4 2/3 innings.
All six runs came in the fifth inning, including three with two outs.
Asked about the difference between the first four innings and the fifth, Hernández replied, with assistant strength and conditioning coach Luis Perez serving as a translator, “I lost control in that fifth inning and I still don’t know what specifically happened. I have to go back and look at video.”
Hernández had gotten off to an enticing start, having held the Orioles (12-17) scoreless for four innings and limiting them to three hits (two singles).
“I thought his first four were about the best first four he has had all season,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He just gets into a bind in the fifth, gets his out, is at the bottom of the order. A walk and then he gets to a place to get a swing-and-miss pitch, and I think he just made a mistake that ended up costing him a couple. Then it was hard to stop the bleeding once that happened.”
A slim margin early
The Royals grabbed a 1-0 lead before the Orioles had a chance to grab a bat.
Witt, who batted leadoff, singled to start the game. With two outs, he stole second base — his fifth steal of the season. O’Hearn delivered a two-out RBI single to right field.
Hernández held off an Orioles threat in the fourth after a two-out ball hit down the line by Austin Hays hit third base and bounced into left field for a double. Hernández got an inning-ending ground ball to short.
“I was locating,” Hernández said of his success early in the outing. “I was just locating whatever I wanted to throw. I just don’t know what happened in the fifth.”
A head-scratching fifth inning
In the fifth with the Royals still clinging to a one-run lead, Tyler Nevin drew a one-out walk on a 3-2 count followed by Anthony Benboom’s double into the right field corner. That left runners on second and third.
Jorge Mateo then ripped a single into left field that tied the score, 1-1, and left runners on the corners. But Mateo stole second base, and the catcher, Melendez, rushed his throw and it sailed into center field as the runner from third scored the go-ahead run. Mateo ended up on third, and he scored on Trey Mancini’s two-out RBI single.
“They have a bat and they go up there to battle too,” Hernández said. “I just have to keep competing and hoping that is going to take me to the next level.”
The Orioles kept tacking on with two outs. Anthony Santander walked and Hays got hit by a pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch that bounced well in front of the plate and then caromed off Melendez’s chest protector allowed another run to score.
“If you look back on it, his pitches that he made were actually really good,” Melendez said. “They just started battling. They saw well. They had a good inning, put a good inning together. I thought he pitched really well all throughout four, even throughout five.”
With runners on second and third, Ryan Mountcastle lined a two-run single into left field to make it a 6-1 Orioles lead.
Matheny turned to left-hander Amir Garrett to get the final out of the inning.
“I think he was just cruising so well then a couple things went kind of against the plan, and I think he had trouble reining it back in,” Matheny said of Hernández’s outing. “That’s a shame because he had really good stuff today.”
Orioles starting pitcher Tyler Wells (1-2) held the Royals to one run, five hits and no walks in six innings.
The Royals created some traffic on the bases late in the game, but they left the bases loaded in the eighth when Hunter Dozier grounded out.
They also put two men on with one out in the ninth against former Royals pitcher and current Orioles reliever Jorge Lopez, but Lopez escaped without giving up a run.
The Royals will continue their nine-game road trip on Tuesday night against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. The pitching matchup features Royals right-hander Brad Keller (1-2, 1.74) against Rangers left-hander Martín Pérez (0-2, 2.25).
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 2:06 PM.
