Kansas City Royals rally, but fall short in extra innings against the Guardians
The Kansas City Royals started off their homestand by rallying to tie the score in the eighth against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians before suffering an extra-inning loss Monday night.
Royals relief pitcher Carlos Hernández gave up a two-run double off the center field wall to Oscar Gonzalez in the top of the 10th, and that proved to be the difference as the Royals fell 6-5 to the Guardians in front of an announced 11,511 in the first game of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
“We had trouble getting anything going, but late we put a great charge on,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We did a great job getting us back in it. (Salvador Perez) with his big hit to tie it. Some good at-bats. The guys fought all the way until the end. Unfortunately, the double got us.”
With a runner on second base to start the 10th inning, the Guardians had All-Star slugger Jose Ramirez due up to start the frame. The Royals intentionally walked Ramirez, who entered the day batting .339 with runners in scoring position and having been a one-man wrecking crew against the Royals in the recent past.
Hernández got the first batter he faced, Josh Naylor, to fly out to shallow left-center field. But then Gonzalez went down and got the curveball below the strike zone from Hernández and swatted it over center fielder Michael A. Taylor and off the wall.
“I think we all were surprised, watching the swing, that it carried the way that it did,” Matheny said of Gonzalez’s double. “We know he’s got power. We haven’t seen that much of him, just studying some of the film and hearing what he’s done through the minor leagues. He got it out in front. It looked like he got it below the zone too. I think that threw Michael off. I think it threw all of us off that it went that far after he’d just got a huge out with Naylor.”
“I think it was down and away,” Hernández said of the pitch to Gonzalez. “He just hit and went that way. It’s just what it is. You just have to keep going out there and competing.”
The Royals got the tying run on in the bottom of the 10th. MJ Melendez drove in the automatic runner with an RBI single to make it a one-run game. After Bobby Witt Jr. hit into a double play, the Royals still put a man on via Ryan O’Hearn’s pinch hit single.
But they could not pull even against Guardians hard-throwing closer Emmanuel Clase, who has 31 saves.
Royals rookie outfielder Drew Waters went 2 for 4 with a double and his first major-league home run, while Perez (1 for 4) doubled and drove in the tying run in the eighth inning.
Singer not his usual self
Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits in six innings. He also committed the throwing error that led to his one unearned run. Singer struck out just one, his fewest in a start this season.
Singer entered the night having held opposing hitters to a .192 batting average with runners in scoring position, but the Guardians made good on their early opportunities against the stingy Singer.
“The past two outings I haven’t had the stuff that I’ve, obviously, wanted,” Singer said. “I think the life on the fastball is not as good as it usually is. I think the movement and stuff is there. The life on all three pitches is struggling a little bit, but just got to get back to it.”
Specifically, Singer identified his slider as not having the typical “bite,” and he described his fastball as not “exploding” the way it had been in recent outings.
The Guardians scored two in the second inning to grab an early advantage. Singer gave up a pair of singles and then a sacrifice bunt by Austin Hedges drove in the game’s first run, but also got the inning to two outs.
However, No. 9 hitter Myles Straw singled to right field. Royals rookie outfielder Waters fielded and came up throwing. Waters’ throw to the plate got to catcher Sal Perez on a hop in time to get the runner, but Perez couldn’t glove it cleanly and the ball squirted away before he had a chance to attempt to apply a tag.
From the end of the second inning into the fifth, Singer and the Royals defense retired nine of the next ten Guardians batters. The only batter to reach, Ramirez on a hit by pitch, got thrown out by Perez during an attempted steal at second base.
Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie held the Royals to three hits in 5 2/3 innings, but he also walked two and gave up three runs (two earned).
In the bottom of the fifth inning after Michael Massey drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the Guardians catcher Hedges, Waters crushed a one-out, two-run home to tie the score 2-2.
Waters, who doubled earlier off of McKenzie, jumped on a first-pitch curveball left over the middle of the plate and sent it into the bullpen behind the right field fence. The blast traveled an estimated 400 feet.
“With a guy like McKenzie, who (has) a curveball with a slider as well — I’m looking for a fastball up in the zone, “Waters said. “Then if anything else starts at the top, it’s the green light to go take a hack at it. So I would say that approach worked for tonight.”
The score didn’t remain tied for long. The Guardians responded with two runs in the sixth, the first on the second pitch of the inning when Naylor clubbed a 1-0 slider 421 feet for a solo homer.
Singer said he’d meant to “bury” that slider towards Naylor’s back foot. However, the inconsistency of that pitch in the outing cost him in that instance.
Andres Gimenez reached on a one-out double into the right field corner, then advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw by Singer. The error put him in position to score on Tyler Freeman’s sacrifice fly, and the Guardians took a 4-2 advantage.
Taylor’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning pulled the Royals within a run, 4-3, as Witt scored after a leadoff walk and a throwing error on an infield grounder allowed him to go from first to third.
Perez tied the score 4-4 with an RBI double into the left field corner in the eighth inning. The score remained tied until the 10th inning.
This story was originally published September 5, 2022 at 11:10 PM.
