Kansas City Royals rally against Houston Astros before falling in walk-off finish
The deck is stacked against the Kansas City Royals right now — both the schedule and injury news.
But the club will not go down without a fight, even if the Astros dealt the final blow in Friday night’s 3-2 Royals defeat.
Faced with a two-run deficit in the ninth, the Royals countered flame-throwing closer Josh Hader in the clutch moments and rallied to tie the score.
It was an important display of fight — Bobby Witt Jr. reached on an error and Paul DeJong brought him in with a two-run homer, No. 24 this season — on a day the club learned first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was lost for the regular season.
“I’m looking for something out over (the plate),” DeJong said. “He (was) tying me up and in ... with that fastball, and he kind of just left a slider out there middle right where I really wanted something. I didn’t hit it great, but I got enough of it.”
But the Royals couldn’t get over the hump. Houston’s Jose Altuve hit a walk-off double as the Astros won at home on Friday night.
KC fell to 75-61. Starter Seth Lugo threw seven scoreless innings, allowing one run and striking out nine batters.
“I thought I threw the ball pretty well,” Lugo said. “I thought I mixed speeds, moved the ball around and kept the fastballs in the zone.”
The Astros took a 1-0 lead behind a Ben Gamel home run. In the eighth inning, shortstop Jeremy Peña hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 2-0.
Altuve provided the exclamation point in the bottom of the ninth inning. He doubled off the wall against James McArthur.
“First pitch was a slider down and away,” McArthur said. “(I got) a swing and miss and then went back to it. I haven’t seen the video. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when you are out there, but looked like a similar location. And he got the bat out to it.”
Houston improved to 73-62. The Royals have lost three consecutive games after beginning the road trip with three wins in Cleveland.
The Royals are now 2.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central. Cleveland defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-8 on Friday night.
Missed previous Royals coverage?
Game 1: Royals dealt significant blow as Vinnie Pasquantino, Lucas Erceg leave with injuries
Injury Update: Vinnie Pasquantino to miss rest of regular season with broken thumb
Here are more notable aspects from Friday’s game:
Seth Lugo shines in pitchers’ duel
Lugo gave the Royals everything he could against the Astros. The veteran right-hander dueled with Framber Valdez throughout the game.
It was an efficient outing, save for one mistake. In the third inning, Lugo allowed the solo homer to Gamel. The blast traveled 356 feet and landed in the Crawford Boxes in left field.
“That’s where I wanted it,” Lugo said. “You know, I got it to the edge, 3-1, and I wanted to land a couple of pitches before that. ... He put a good swing on it. I tip my hat to him.”
Per Baseball Savant, the homer wouldn’t have left 29 of 30 parks. Minute Maid Park was the lone exception to the Astros’ benefit.
Later, Lugo worked out of sixth inning trouble. He allowed consecutive singles to Astros duo Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz. However, he recovered to retire the side and keep the deficit at one run.
Lugo allowed six hits and recorded eight strikeouts in six innings.
Framber Valdez shuts down Royals
The Royals had no answers for the Astros ace on Friday night. Valdez shut down the Royals offense and didn’t allow a hit through seven innings.
KC was left searching for answers.
“He’s got all sorts of pitches,” DeJong said. “He changes his cadences and he throws a lot of strike to ball. ... He’s got a lot of movement and he’s been around a while. He is a pretty good pitcher.”
Valdez relied heavily on his sinker and curveball to generate quick outs. And when he needed it, Valdez uncorked his changeup to disrupt the Royals’ timing.
“He’s excellent and we knew that coming in,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s got elite ground ball rates and he’s got a plus curveball. His (velocity) was up tonight and he located. I don’t know what else you can say about him.”
The Royals flailed away and struck out seven times. Valdez generated 48 swings and 15 whiffs before turning it over to the bullpen.
Royals outfielder Kyle Isbel broke up the Astros’ combined no-hit bid in the eighth inning.
What’s next on the KC Royals’ schedule:
The Royals continue their four-game series against the Astros. On Saturday, KC left-hander Cole Ragans will start at Minute Maid Park.
Ragans has recorded 12 quality starts in his last 18 outings. During that span, Ragans posted a 2.85 ERA in 107 ⅓ innings pitched. The Astros will start southpaw Yusei Kikuchi, who was acquired at the MLB trade deadline.
Kikuchi allowed two runs against the Royals on April 22. He picked up the win as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
This story was originally published August 30, 2024 at 9:45 PM.
