Daniel Lynch victimized by home runs as Kansas City Royals lose opener to Blue Jays
Left-hander Daniel Lynch is the latest member of the Kansas City Royals starting rotation to hit a rough patch after showing enticing ability and having put together several high-caliber performances.
Lynch allowed six runs, six hits, two walks and four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings Monday night against Toronto. Three of the six hits he allowed were home runs as the Royals lost to the Blue Jays 8-0 in front of an announced 10,889 in the first game of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
The start of the game was delayed 2 hours and 5 minutes because of rain and the threat of severe thunderstorms.
The Royals (17-36) have lost 14 of their last 17 games and are on pace to lose 110 games. The franchise record is 106.
Lynch has given up 12 runs, 15 hits and five walks over the course of his last two starts (9 2/3 innings).
He’d allowed 18 total runs through his first eight starts of this season.
“I’ve been through stretches like this before where I have a couple tough ones in a row,” Lynch said. “I feel like I take a lot of pride in doing a good job of bouncing back and figuring out why, what I did wrong, getting better from it and not letting it get me down.”
This season alone, the Royals have seen young starters Brady Singer, Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernández hit speed bumps that forced them to take a step back and spend time ironing out kinks in the minors.
Lynch had shown a different level of consistency. Until his most recent two starts, he hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs in consecutive starts this season.
Monday night, the sixth inning changed the entire outlook of his outing. He gave up three runs and recorded just two outs in that frame.
“You look at the end result and it didn’t look good,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “But the fact (is) he’s taking three hits into the sixth right there. … He had good stuff today, and I know that’s not what anybody wants to hear when you give up runs like that.
“To be able to take a team like that and only give up three hits through those five (innings), you’re doing some things right. Unfortunately when he did make mistakes, they jumped all over them.”
The Blue Jays (32-22) scored five of their six runs against Lynch via home runs by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero and Santiago Espinal.
Both Guerrero and Espinal hit theirs in the sixth inning.
“I just didn’t really give us a shot to win there,” Lynch said of the sixth inning. “I felt like I kept us in it. We kinda had a shot there in the end, but I just kind of let them too far into it and didn’t really give us a shot. It’s frustrating to get that deep into the game and just have it kind of crumble down like that.”
The Blue Jays entered the game having hit 22 home runs in their previous 11 games. Their 64 homers entering the day were tied for the fourth-most in the AL. They also began the day ranked third in batting average (.245), slugging percentage (.413) and OPS (.730) and fifth in on-base percentage (.317).
Lynch retired the first nine batters he faced to start his night with three perfect innings.
Then he walked Blue Jays leadoff hitter George Springer to start the fourth. The next batter, Bichette, smashed an 0-1 changeup for a two-run homer to center field. His ninth homer of the season gave the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.
They took a 3-0 lead on Danny Jansen’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
With one out in the sixth, Guerrero jumped on a first-pitch slider and hammered it 423 feet to right-center field. Three batters later following a groundout and an Alejandro Kirk single, Espinal hit a first-pitch changeup into the visiting team’s bullpen for another two-run homer.
Espinal was the last batter of the day for Lynch.
“If the slider is down to Guerrero and the changeup is down to Bichette, they might still hit homers. I don’t know,” Lynch said. “But all I can really do is focus on executing the pitches I want to make, and I missed my spots on those.”
The Blue Jays tacked on two runs against Joel Payamps (one unearned run) and Albert Abreu (one run). Payamps came out of the game with back tightness after being hit by a ball batted back up the middle by Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman.
Blue Jays starter Ross Stripling (2-1) pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and no walks.
“We never got into hitters counts,” Matheny said. “I think it was three times all game that we were in a count that was favorable for a hitter. They were working ahead and making good pitches. We had one guy reach base all day. That’s never a good thing.
“Michael took some good at-bats today. We had some other balls that were hit hard, but they controlled it from the top and all the way through. They were working ahead, and we were on our heels.”
The Royals were held to two hits, both by center fielder Michael A. Taylor (2 for 2, walk). The Royals struck out six times and Taylor was their only hitter to reach base.
“He has the highest release point that we’ve seen all year,” Taylor said. “Good mix, good command. There’s just a few things that make him a little unorthodox and gave us a little trouble today.”
The teams continue their series on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Right-hander Brad Keller (1-6, 4.15) will start for the Royals, while right-hander Alek Manoah (6-1, 1.98) is listed as the probable starting pitcher for the Blue Jays.
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 12:10 AM.
