KC Royals use five-run inning, strong outing by Brady Singer to beat Diamondbacks
An incognito “staring contest” between Kansas City Royals players Nicky Lopez and Kyle Isbel as well as third base coach Vance Wilson during an Arizona Diamondbacks mound visit inning provided the non-verbal communication necessary for the biggest play of the night.
The squeeze play executed by Lopez scored Isbel and broke the ice for the Royals, then key hits by rookies MJ Melendez and Bobby Witt Jr. punched through in a big way as a five-run inning swung the night in a completely different direction.
Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer turned in a stellar outing, having made one mistake that he paid for on the scoreboard. Thanks to a pitching matchup against Diamondbacks lights-out right-hander Zac Gallen, Singer seemed destined for a tough-luck loss.
Instead, Singer tossed the last of his seven innings and the Royals burst onto the scoreboard with a five-run bottom half of the frame on their way to a 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks in front of an announced 10,531 at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday night.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Lopez said. “(Singer) busted his butt out there for us. They had a good pitcher on the mound, obviously. He’s been really good this whole year. We’re just trying to string across anything you can.”
The win gave the Royals (51-75) a split in the two-game interleague set. They’ve won two of three to start their homestand.
“When they had that mound visit, I was kind of just staring down at third base at Vance and Izzy, and they were just staring back at me,” Lopez said. “I think they kind of got what I was (signaling) — hey, I’m going to put a bunt down right here. Obviously, Vance relayed it to Izzy and he got a good jump.”
Witt went 1 for 4 with three RBIs and homered for the second consecutive night. He brought his season total to 18 home runs and moved him one ahead of Salvador Perez for the team lead.
Royals newcomer Drew Waters, who made his major-league debut on Monday, had two hits (2 for 2) including the first of his career in the big leagues.
Melendez (1 for 4, run, RBI) and Lopez (0 for 1, run, RBI) both drove in runs for the Royals.
Singer duels with Gallen
Singer (7-4) earned the win. He allowed one run on four hits, one home run, and didn’t walk a batter. He registered six strikeouts.
Royals manager Mike Matheny praised Singer for making a progression to the “next level” as a starting pitcher.
“We keep putting him in spots, or they just line up, but I don’t know of a pitcher in the league that’s throwing better than what the guy on the other side is except maybe our guy,” Matheny said.
“To see him face-off and he knows he’s going to have to be good because their guy wasn’t giving up anything. He just kept us in the game. He gets down to the end of his count, really his last hitter. And he was able to figure out how to get it done and let his offense figure out a way to do something.”
Singer struck out four batters in the first three innings, and he allowed just two hits in that same span.
The first run of the game came in the top of the fifth when Singer threw a 1-2 slider to Diamondbacks outfielder Dautlon Varsho, which Varsho promptly smacked high down the right field line and around the foul pole for a solo home run.
That was the third hit Singer allowed in the game.
“I think there were some times where I could have definitely put some guys away if I had a better one,” Singer said of his slider. “We were kind of looking at it in between innings and trying to make it better. I don’t think it was that great, but I think it was effective.”
Pitching coach Cal Eldred, Singer and Melendez, who started at catcher, put their heads together to maximize Singer’s slider. Singer said he changed his hand placement later in the game to help get that pitch to move more like he wanted.
Singer faced just three batters more than the minimum for seven innings, and he tossed 103 pitches. His pitch count reached 82 through five innings, but he got through the sixth on just six pitches, and then he retired the side in order in the seventh on 15 pitches.
“I definitely started wearing down there towards the end,” Singer said. “So the slider coming into play helped me get through all that.”
A big inning ‘building’
Gallen entered the night having pitched at least seven scoreless innings in three consecutive starts. He entered the day with a scoreless streak of 21 1/3 innings, and he held the Royals without a run for six innings.
In the seventh, Isbel reached on a single up the middle, stole second base, tagged up on a fly ball to right field and advanced to third. Then with Isbel on third, Lopez successfully put down a sacrifice bunt between home plate and the pitcher’s mound.
Isbel used a head-first slide and beat the flip to the plate from the pitcher to the catcher.
“That’s who I am,” Lopez said. “That’s the type of game that I need to play. I need to pick it on the defensive end whether it’s at short, second, third. Then I’ve got to play small ball. I’ve got to get on base. I’ve got to bunt, hit-and-run, whatever is asked of me. Whenever you’ve got an opportunity like that to put something down and score a run, you’ve just got to put your nose behind the bat and put it down. That’s what I tried to do.”
Back-to-back singles by Waters and Melendez brought in another run and put the Royals ahead 2-1 and put two men on with Witt coming to the plate.
“Everything was kind of building, building, you could feel it building, then we scored some more runs,” Witt said.
Witt crushed a 2-2 changeup on the outside corner from Diamondbacks left-hander Joe Mantiply 437 feet to left-center field for a three-run homer.
“I was just looking to put the barrel on the ball with two strikes,” Witt said. “Just battle and maybe try to shoot it to right field or something. Just battle.”
Royals reliever Scott Barlow gave up two runs in the ninth, but held on to close out the win.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 10:15 PM.
