Kansas City Royals pitchers dig early hole in a 13-1 drubbing by the Guardians
After the flood of excitement and elation of Friday night’s come-from-behind walk-off win, the Kansas City Royals let the air out of the balloon quite early on Saturday afternoon.
Royals pitchers gave up 11 runs in the first four innings on their way to a 13-1 rout at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians in front of an announced 17,024 in the second game of a three-game weekend series at Kauffman Stadium.
Things went so far awry on the mound that the Royals (31-52) turned to center fielder Michael A. Taylor, who pitched the eighth and ninth innings. Taylor, who showed velocity as high as 93.8 mph, tossed a scoreless eighth and then allowed two runs in the ninth in his first career pitching performance.
The Guardians (41-41) evened the series and set up a series-deciding rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
Royals starting pitcher Jonathan Heasley gave up six runs (five earned) on six hits, including one home run, and a hit batter in 1 1/3 innings. He gave up more hits and more runs than he recorded outs, and five of the hits he allowed were extra-base hits.
“I think it was just one of those days, kind of a dead-arm day,” Royals manager MIke Matheny said. “Didn’t really see anything going into it that would lead us to believe that would happen. He went short in his bullpen, barely threw many at all. It just wasn’t coming out, couldn’t find the feel. Just chalk it up to one of those days and move forward.”
The 1 1/3 innings for Heasley marked a career-low in the majors. He’d averaged five innings per start in his previous 13 starts in the big leagues.
This season, he’d only allowed four runs or more twice in 11 starts.
Heasley’s average velocity was below usual on all of his pitches (four-seam fastball, curveball, changeup, slider and sinker), including an average four-seam fastball rate of 90.8, compared to his average for the season of 93.9.
Matheny said the medical staff checked Heasley out and didn’t raise any concerns.
“Coming into today everything felt normal,” Heasley said. “Coming off a good start, I was looking forward to getting back out there and, hopefully, build off of that. I just kind of got out there today and didn’t have it. I hate that I put us in the position that I did and just kind of had to eat up the bullpen obviously. So that puts us in a tough spot. I hate that it happened the way it did. I just simply didn’t have it today.”
The Royals are now nine games into a stretch of 18 games in 17 days leading up to the MLB All-Star break. They’ve got a doubleheader on Monday against the Detroit Tigers.
Heasley’s outing ended on a two-run home run by Jose Ramirez, the fifth batter of the second inning. The Guardians scored four runs in that five-batter span, the lone out coming on an Amed Rosario strikeout.
“I felt pretty normal,” Heasley said. “I think just a little fatigue, maybe, in the shoulder. Mechanics felt fine and everything felt normal. I felt like I was using my normal effort. It just wasn’t coming out. It’s just one of those days. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens like that — once or twice a year maybe — and you’ve got to try to grind through those. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that today.”
Heasley said he’s had several starts throughout his career where he hasn’t felt his best, but still has managed to get opposing hitters out.
At one point in the second inning, the infielders converged on the mound between pitches for an impromptu mound visit to check on Heasley, but he assured them he was physically fine.
Right-hander Jackson Kowar took over with one out in the second inning and the Royals trailing 6-0. Kowar stopped the bleeding temporarily, but things went south for him in the fourth inning.
After he recorded the final two outs of the second inning and pitched a scoreless third, Kowar gave up a five-run fourth, including the first major-league home run in the career of Guardians outfielder Nolan Jones. The 457-foot, three-run blast into the fountains in right-center field made the score 11-0.
Kowar threw 60 pitches in 2 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits, including a home run, and three walks.
McKenzie limits Royals bats
Meanwhile, old nemesis Triston McKenzie (6-6) handcuffed Royals hitters for six innings on the mound for the Guardians. The Guardians’ starter tossed six scoreless innings and held the Royals to three hits (all singles).
McKenzie entered the day having been near-dominant in his previous outings at Kauffman Stadium. In his four previous games at The K, he’d posted a 3-1 record with a 1.35 ERA, the fourth-lowest ERA at the ballpark among all active pitchers (minimum 20 innings).
“He moves the ball around well,” Taylor said of McKenzie. “He’s got good pitches, and today he threw the ball where he wanted it. He was spotting up.”
Offensively, the Royals were stuck on one hit — an infield single by Edward Olivares — until Nicky Lopez hit a leadoff single up the middle in the sixth inning.
The Royals’ lone run came in the seventh inning, when Lopez hit a ground ball that went for a bases-loaded fielder’s choice — the Guardians couldn’t turn a double play on Lopez.
Royals rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Olivares finished the day with two hits apiece. Lopez had one hit and an RBI.
Left fielder Andrew Benintendi, who threw a runner out at the plate to end the third inning, extended his on-base streak to 18 games with a walk in the first inning.
Taylor said he did not think the early deficit affected the way players approached their at-bats.
“The goal is always to put runs on the board, put together quality at-bats,” Taylor said. “I think when you start pressing, it doesn’t help at all. So when you fall behind like that, you kind of just keep grinding and stick to the plan.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2022 at 6:26 PM.
