Whit Merrifield has breakout game as Kansas City Royals roll past Texas Rangers
One day after Kansas City Royals star Whit Merrifield provided a peek inside the psyche of a struggling offense and how the game dominates every aspect of a player’s life, he smashed his first home run of the season, scored four runs and was on base three times to spark his club to a road win over the Texas Rangers.
The Royals stopped their three-game losing slide Wednesday night and evened their series with an 8-2 win over the Rangers in front of an announced 15,561 in the second game of a three-game series at Globe Life Field. The victory sets up a rubber match between the teams on Thursday night.
Merrifield went 3 for 4 with a home run, a stolen base and four runs scored. Rookie infielder Bobby Witt Jr. went 1 for 5 with three RBIs, and Emmanuel Rivera delivered a ninth-inning pinch-hit three-run triple to give the Royals (10-18) some extra breathing room late.
“It’s certainly a sigh of relief,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Merrifield having a breakout day. “And also, you feel that through the whole dugout, the whole clubhouse. The guys, they know the kind of hitter he is. They know the kind of player (he is). You just want to see guys do what they have proven that they do. It’s not dreaming. He’s done a good job, handling it as well as you can.”
Merrifield, who came into the day batting .139 and having been dropped to the No. 8 spot in the lineup, started the scoring with his third-inning solo home run, a 401-foot shot over the left field wall. He turned on a first-pitch fastball left out of the middle by Rangers left-hander Kolby Allard.
“It’s always good to see results,” Merrifield said. “Like I was saying yesterday, I got to the line, saw a free throw go in and it’s like, all right. Now, we can start shooting. Obviously, the first one was good, but the second at-bat was probably my favorite at-bat of the day.”
Two innings later, Merrifield was right in the middle of a two-run inning for the Royals. After Michael A. Taylor’s walk, Merrifield singled to right on an 0-2 slider. Witt then lined a two-run double into left field to give the Royals a 3-0 advantage.
“You kind of could feel that he was starting to get there, even in the cage and stuff he was like, ‘It’s coming,’” Witt said of Merrifield. “Even just what he’s done, hitting balls right at people, having bad luck sometimes. Just what he’s done with his mentality, he’s been the same person.
“That’s what’s hard about this game. You go through ups and downs. … That’s why I look up to him, because he’s played in however many games in a row and he’s always the same guy no matter what’s going on.”
With the Rangers having made the score 3-1 on a Brad Miller solo homer in the sixth, Merrifield scored for a third time in the seventh.
Merrifield hit a ball back toward the mound and advanced to second base on a throwing error by the pitcher and to third on a wild pitch. Then he scored on a chopper to third by Witt, sliding in before a late tag attempt.
The Royals carried that 4-1 lead into the ninth inning when, once again, Merrifield set the table for more add-on runs.
Merrifield singled into center field to start the inning, then Nicky Lopez followed suit with a single to left field. After a Witt strikeout and an Andrew Benintendi fly ball to shallow center for the second out, the Rangers intentionally walked Salvador Perez to load the bases.
Rivera, who batted for Ryan O’Hearn, stepped in with two outs and roped a first-pitch fastball into right field for the first bases-loaded pinch-hit triple in Royals franchise history.
Rivera scored on a throwing error to give the Royals their eighth run.
Stellar outing for the bullpen brigade
The Royals used a group of six relief pitchers to hold the Rangers (12-17) to two runs and six hits. The Rangers’ runs came on solo home runs by Brad Miller and Corey Seager.
Left-handed reliever Gabe Speier made his first major-league start and his first start at any level since he started in the minors in 2017 while in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ farm system. He said he got the news he was starting around 1:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday.
“I just treated it like any outing out of the bullpen,” Speier said. “I was warming up when their guy was throwing in the top of the first.”
Speier didn’t allow a hit in two innings, and he threw 11 of his 17 pitches for strikes.
Joel Payamps pitched three scoreless innings to match a career high and earn his second major-league win. He struck out five and allowed just two hits.
Right-hander Collin Snider (one inning) gave up the homer to Miller, while Taylor Clarke and Scott Barlow each pitched scoreless frames. Barlow came on with two men on and no outs in the eighth inning and kept the Rangers from scoring with the help of a double play.
Clarke is now the only pitcher in the majors with at least 12 innings pitched and no walks.
“Not only is our bullpen good, but we have a lot of guys that can go multiple innings and be sharp for two, three innings,” Speier said. “That helps a lot, like Payamps today. Having that depth in the bullpen and having guys that can go multiple innings and stay sharp, it’s awesome to see.”
Left-hander Kris Bubic, who made his first relief outing of the season after being moved to the bullpen late last week, gave up the game’s final run on a solo homer by Seager to deep center field in the ninth.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 10:09 PM.
