Latest Royals win had standing ovation, boos — and then a rally after that
Kansas City Royals starter Kris Bubic needed just 90 minutes to earn a standing ovation from the home fans at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals, however, ended up needing much more to earn Tuesday’s 4-3 home victory over the Colorado Rockies in 11 innings.
This time, an atypical meltdown from the Royals bullpen forced KC to work harder for its second straight win.
Royals closer Carlos Estevez — after allowing one earned run in 10 innings all season — couldn’t hold onto a 2-0 lead in the ninth. He walked three batters, then surrendered a two-out, bases-clearing double to Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings.
Estevez escaped further damage by getting Mickey Moniak to fly out to center, but he heard it from Royals fans, who booed him off the field following the ninth-inning debacle.
The right-hander took responsibility for his woes after the game, saying walking people is “one of the things I hate the most.”
“(It was) command. In a situation like that, against teams like this, you can’t give them a chance, putting people on,” Estevez said after the game. “That’s where the problem was.”
KC still put together a rally to tie it in the bottom of the ninth.
Salvador Perez blooped a single to right, then gave way to pinch runner Freddy Fermin. Maikel Garcia followed with a double to left, then Fermin came home on a Michael Massey sacrifice fly.
After the teams traded scoreless 10th innings and Royals lefty Daniel Lynch pitched a perfect 11th, Fermin won it in the bottom of the frame, lining an RBI single to center before chucking his helmet skyward on his way to first.
This was the start of a reprieve in a previously tough April schedule for the Royals, who will face the MLB-worst 4-18 Rockies for two more games at home this week.
Bubic previously earned his standing cheers with his seven shutout innings. He was efficient and effective in his seven frames Tuesday night, striking out six while walking none.
“He threw a ton of strikes. That was impressive,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “A lot of weak contact.”
KC, improving to 10-14, continues to tread water record-wise while waiting for the bats to showcase more flickers of life.
The greatest sparks came from outfielder Drew Waters on Tuesday. He picked on a sixth-inning changeup from Rockies starter Ryan Feltner, blasting it 408 feet to the Fountain Deck in right field for a solo home run.
It was Waters’ first big-league home run since Aug. 26, 2023 — a stretch of 608 days.
Waters was also the biggest reason for KC’s eighth-inning insurance run. He tripled into the right-field corner with one out, then dove headfirst into home plate safely on a squeeze bunt from teammate Kyle Isbel.
The stretch of offensive struggles still is beginning to reach troubling milestones.
KC scored four runs or fewer for the 22nd time in 24 games. This also marked the Royals’ 17th straight game of scoring four runs or fewer — the longest American League mark since a KC 19-game streak in June 2018.
The end goal, though, is to win. And the Royals accomplished that Tuesday night — even with an indirect route in the later innings.
Here are some more notable aspects of Tuesday’s game:
Did Alec Marsh suffer a setback?
Quatraro gave an ominous pregame update on starter Alec Marsh, who started this season on the injured list with a shoulder injury.
The Royals manager said Tuesday that Marsh’s shoulder “hasn’t felt great” and that the right-hander would be meeting with team doctor Vincent Key on Wednesday.
“Marsh has been battling through it now for a while. He hasn’t thrown — I don’t know the exact number of days —but it’s been a week at least probably, since he’s thrown,” Quatraro said. “So we need to figure out what’s going on.”
The 26-year-old Marsh started 25 games for KC last season, finishing with a 4.53 ERA.
“We’ll hopefully have more answers tomorrow,” Quatraro said.
Reliever closer to return?
Quatraro also said Royals reliever Hunter Harvey, on the injured list with his own shoulder injury, would be meeting with Key soon.
However, Quatraro said that get-together should lead to progress.
“We fully expect (Harvey) to start playing catch tomorrow,” Quatraro said.
Harvey, 30, was off to an impressive start in 2025 before his ailment, pitching 5 1/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
What’s next: The Royals continue their three-game series against the Rockies at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday. Royals starter Michael Lorenzen will go against the Rockies’ German Marquez.
This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 9:46 PM.
