Daniel Lynch comes undone in his last inning as Kansas City Royals lose to Orioles
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Daniel Lynch seemed poised for a quality start, a strong outing and an abundance of pats on the back. But his final inning on the mound turned sour quickly, and the complexion of the game flipped.
The Royals lost 6-4 to the Baltimore Orioles in front of an announced 15,134 on Saturday in the third game of a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium. The teams will conclude their series on Sunday afternoon, and the Royals can clinch a series win with a victory.
“It’s just really, really frustrating to throw kind of like I did the first five innings and feel like I was doing everything right and then to — back-to-back starts — just have kind of a back-breaking homer,” Lynch said. “It’s really frustrating, and I felt like I should’ve given us a better chance to win. You try to take the positives, because there were a lot, but it’s just mostly frustrating.”
The loss snapped a three-game win streak for the Royals (20-38). The Royals have gone 4-5 on the homestand that ends on Sunday.
Lynch (2-6) allowed four runs on eight hits, including a home run, and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out seven, matching his season high. Three of the four runs he allowed came in the sixth inning on a three-run home run.
In his previous start, Monday against the Blue Jays, Lynch gave up two home runs (three runs) in the sixth inning.
The Royals’ bullpen gave up two more runs in the final three innings on Saturday as the Orioles (25-35) assured they would not get swept in the series.
Royals leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield went 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored, while Salvador Perez went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Emmanuel Rivera (1 for 3) drove in a run.
Michael A. Taylor (1 for 3, RBI, run scored) extended his hitting streak to six consecutive games for the Royals, and he now has nine hits during the current home stand. Kyle Isbel (1 for 3) hit a triple and had an RBI.
“I felt like it was a pretty good game all-around,” Merrifield said. “We didn’t push enough across, and, really, Lynchie made one bad pitch all day and it cost him three runs. It’s kind of bummer. He threw a lot better, I thought, than to leave the game down.
“Offensively, obviously we would have liked to have done more. It wasn’t a horrible day offensively. We just didn’t put things together to score runs.”
Royals, Lynch in control early
The Royals got out of the starting blocks with a first-inning run courtesy of a Perez RBI double that drove in Merrifield.
They tacked on two more runs to their lead in the fourth via Isbel’s line drive into the right field corner for an RBI triple. With Taylor having scored and Isbel at third base, Rivera added an RBI single past a drawn-in infield playing on the edge of the grass.
The way Lynch rolled through the first four innings made a three-run advantage seem magnitudes larger. He allowed just three hits and didn’t walk a batter through the first four innings. He struck out six during that stretch
Left fielder Andrew Benintendi made a big contribution in the fourth inning to keep the Orioles scoreless. With a runner on second and two outs, Benintendi laid out on the run in making a sliding catch while heading towards the foul line to end the inning and keep the runner on base from scoring on a hit.
However, the Orioles cut into the deficit in the fifth against Lynch. A one-out walk and back-to-back singles by Richie Martin and Cedric Mullins got the Orioles into the scoring column and made it 3-1. Lynch struck out Orioles No. 2 hole hitter Trey Mancini to end the inning and strand a man in scoring position.
The Orioles turned Lynch’s day around quickly in the sixth. Back-to-back singles with one out by Ryan Mountcastle and rookie standout Adley Rutschman, Baseball America’s top prospect entering this season. That set the table for Tyler Nevin, who hit a 2-1 slider left over the heart of the plate 425 feet to center field.
Asked whether fatigue was a factor in the sixth, Lynch said, “Maybe, but that’s no excuse. I was only at 70-something pitches. So that’s to be expected out of me, to go out there and be able to pitch to 100 pitches and be good through those. Maybe it was a factor, but not an excuse.”
Nevin’s three-run homer gave the Orioles a 4-3 edge and chased Lynch from the game.
“A really good five innings and in the sixth, hit the wall,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “And it happened really fast. He gets his out, an infield base hit, a single and the next thing you know we’re on our heels and the home run turns that game over. But up until that point I thought he was very good.”
Royals ‘leave money on the table’ late
The Orioles added runs in the seventh and eight innings against the Royals’ bullpen. Jose Cuas gave up an RBI single with two outs and two strikes in the seventh, and Dylan Coleman gave up a run on a wild pitch in the eighth.
The run allowed by Cuas was the first against him in the majors (sixth appearance).
Trailing 6-3, the Royals put three men on with no outs in the eighth. Taylor’s sacrifice fly shaved a run off their deficit. However, they had to settle for just one run as Isbel grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Perez tagged and scored on the sacrifice fly, while MJ Melendez tagged at second and advanced to third base.
The trail runner, Hunter Dozier, tagged but did not advance to second on the ball hit to the track in left field. Dozier, the potential tying run, broke for second. But he stopped and retreated to first instead of risking what might have been a close play if the cut-off man threw to second base.
“We left money on the table right there in the eighth,” Matheny said. “We had an opportunity. We need the big hit. We’d like to stay out of the double-play situation right there. That, unfortunately, stopped what was looking to be a good rally.
“We made a mark. It would have been nice to make that into a one-run game. It makes it a whole lot different when you get Bobby (Witt) on the next inning with the ability to steal a base and put pressure on.”
Witt singled with one out in the ninth against Orioles relief pitcher and former Royal Jorge Lopez, but Witt was the only man to reach base.
This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 6:26 PM.
