Kansas City Royals equaled this ugly franchise record with 12-3 loss to Texas Rangers
Yogi Berra was wrong. This one was over before it was over.
Texas routed the Royals 12-3 at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, and the only sliver of good news was that they’ll now embark on another road trip.
The Royals lost all six games of this home stand and were outscored 52-15. They are a dreadful 1-12 at Kauffman Stadium this season, which ties the 2018 Royals’ club record for worst home mark after 13 games.
By historical comparison, the 1988 Baltimore Orioles started the season with a 5-30 record, but they were 4-9 at home.
“There’s nothing you can do to rewind what just happened, or the first three weeks this season — there’s nothing you can do about that,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “So, focus will be on staying with the process.
“These guys are putting in the work to come out and compete and perform better going forward. The emotions is nobody’s happy. It’s frustrating. You don’t want to get beat. You don’t want to be embarrassed, especially at home in front of your fans. But there’s nothing you can do about what just happened.”
The Rangers jumped ahead early Wednesday, scoring a run in the first inning and two in the second against Royals starter Brady Singer. He allowed five runs on six hits in five innings.
After a solid 2023 debut, Singer has a 10.13 ERA in his last three starts, allowing 18 earned runs in 16 innings.
“I just made some bad pitches again,” Singer said. “The sinker, the location was OK. I thought I had the right movement on it today and the slider wasn’t very good. I think I gave up quite a few hits on the slider. Just (have to) keep going.”
The Royals hurt themselves by failing to lock things down while trying to rally.
They got a run back in the third, but Singer allowed two in the fourth. After the Royals scored twice in the sixth inning, Texas put up four against reliever Taylor Clarke in the seventh.
That made it a 9-3 game at the seventh-inning stretch and the Royals, 4-15, were on their way to another loss.
Missed previous games of the series?
Game 1: Royals one-hit in 4-0 loss to Rangers
Game 2: Walks doom Royals in 12-2 loss to Texas
Player of the game
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. gave the announced crowd of 10,388 reason to cheer a few times.
Witt crushed a home run to left field in the third inning that landed in front of the Royals Hall of Fame. It was a no-doubter.
Witt also made no fewer than three dazzling plays in the field, including one in the third inning, when he took a hit away from Nathaniel Lowe.
Hernandez bounces back
One night after allowing five runs without getting an out, relief pitcher Carlos Hernández needed just 15 pitches to retire the Rangers in order in the sixth inning.
Hernández struck out a pair of Rangers in the frame.
“I think that was important,” Quatraro said. “He had a rough outing yesterday and has a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts today. I mean, you wouldn’t see that today if we said, ‘Oh, we’re done with you after one bad outing.’”
What’s next: The Royals are off Thursday. They open a 10-game road trip Friday against the Los Angeles Angels. After three against the Angels, the Royals will play three against the Diamondbacks and four against the Twins.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 3:59 PM.
