Royals’ offense disappears again in 2-0 loss to the Nationals

Edinson Volquez turned away from his locker on late Monday and revealed a mammoth ice pack, a hunk of beige sports wrap encasing his right shoulder. It was attached to a small electric timer, and every few seconds, his right forearm arm twitched as water dripped onto a leather chair in front of him.

“I feel like I’m 65 years old,” Volquez said.

Volquez was talking about his right arm, which still ached after allowing just two runs over 7  2/3 innings in a 2-0 loss to the Washington Nationals at Kauffman Stadium. But one could understand if the results of this night had put some more years on his life.

For the third time in four nights, the Royals’ offense had gone scoreless, this time at home in the first game of a three-game series. The brief reprieve lasted just 24 hours, one day of scoring on Sunday before the Royals’ offense turned back to nothing in front of 32,394 fans here on Monday.

The surroundings were different, the stadium more familiar, but the template looked the same as it did on Friday and Saturday night in Seattle.

“We’re struggling right now,” Volquez said. “I think everybody” knows that.

Up and down the lineup, the Royals’ core is mired in a rut that deepened against Washington starter Gio Gonzalez. The offense has averaged just 1.57 runs per game while losing six of seven and dropping to 13-12 on the season. After Monday’s loss, only the Tampa Bay Rays had scored fewer runs than the Royals’ 81. On Monday night, the Royals mustered just five hits against Gonzalez and a cavalry of relievers.

“Offensively, we’ve got to find something to get it going,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said.

In the hours before the opening game of the series, Royals manager Ned Yost sat inside his office and pondered the first 24 games of his club’s season. The question hung in the air: How did he view his team’s opening month? The Royals had begun the season with eight victories in 10 games, lost nine of 13, then broke a five-game skid with a victory in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s hard to answer a question like that when you’ve lost five out of your last six,” Yost said. “So, no, it’s not where we want to be, but we’re doing fine.”

In the moments after the loss, Yost said he still felt encouraged by his team’s at-bats and approach, complimenting Gonzalez while acknowledging the struggles.

“We’ve been shut out three of the last four games, but I saw much better at-bats tonight,” Yost said.

The Royals’ offense will get its next opportunity against Washington starter Tanner Roark on Tuesday. Cy Young candidate Stephen Strasburg awaits on Wednesday.

On Monday, Gonzalez needed a full 28 pitches to navigate through just four Royals batters in the bottom of the first inning. He mostly cruised after that.

In the first, Hosmer worked a walk with two outs and nobody on base. Kendrys Morales saw eight pitches before driving the ninth pitch — a 91 mph fastball — to deep left field. Off the bat, the ball appeared jolted and headed for the Royals’ bullpen. But the baseball did not carry, dying in the cool night air, falling into the glove of left fielder Jayson Werth at the warning track. The scene stunned Yost, he said.

“No way did I ever dream that ball was going to stay in the ballpark,” Yost said.

From that moment, the Royals could do little to harass Gonzalez. And even when the opportunities came, the struggles appeared self-inflicted.

Lorenzo Cain managed a two-out single to left in the third before advancing to second on Hosmer’s second walk. With Morales at the plate, Cain attempted to steal third base on the second pitch. He was thrown out by Washington’s Jose Lobaton, ending the inning. The decision to run was confounding. Cain would later say it was a poor decision.

“It’s a spot where you can’t afford to be thrown out,” Yost said. “But our team, they love to pressure defenses, and there’s so many more ways you can score, even with two outs, from third base.”

Gonzalez required just 23 pitches to traverse the fourth and fifth innings. He neutralized the Royals’ offense with a 90-mph fastball and a healthy dosage of curveballs. The Kansas City attack once again applied pressure in the sixth after Hosmer and Morales connected on back-to-back singles with one out. But Gonzalez stood firm, coaxing consecutive fly balls from Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez.

Gonzalez, 30, entered Monday with a 1.42 ERA in four starts this season. After throwing 102 pitches and allowing just four hits over seven scoreless innings, he had lowered the mark to 1.15.

The quiet production from the Kansas City offense nullified a solid effort from Volquez, who allowed two runs while pitching into the eighth inning.

“There’s some pressure right now,” Volquez said. “Sometimes you’re pitching good; sometimes you don’t hit. Sometimes you hit; sometimes the pitching is bad. It’s like inconsistent a little bit. But we’re going to put it together. We’re not worried about what happenedtonight.”

For Volquez, the only damage came during the top of the first inning. He paid for a leadoff walk to Nationals center field Michael Taylor. He was let down by a slight misplay by right fielder Paulo Orlando.

The inning began with Taylor drawing a walk and third baseman Anthony Rendon singling to center field. Volquez responded by striking out Bryce Harper — who had, in that moment, struck out five straight times for the second time in his career. But one moment later, Ryan Zimmerman lashed a liner to right field. Orlando broke late on the ball and it carried over his head, scoring Taylor from third. In Yost’s assessment, Orlando had little “chance to catch that ball.”

Second baseman Daniel Murphy, last seen facing the Royals in the World Series last fall, made the score 2-0 on a groundout to first base. With sharper defense in right field, the Nationals could have been limited to a lone run. Instead, Volquez was on the hook for two, and he appeared determined to make up for the early nicks.

“I left a couple of pitches up,” Volquez said. “They put a good swing on the ball, so that was the whole game.”

He lasted into the eighth inning, tossing zeros on the scoreboard and finishing with seven strikeouts while throwing 114 pitches. In the end, the offense could not support its workhorse, the slump stretched on for another night.

“I just think we’re just not getting it done,” said Hosmer, who finished 1 for 2 with two walks. “We’re getting the tables set up and it’s just not happening. So we’ll find a way to get it done. These things come — usually one guy kind of breaks the ice and gets a hit, and it just kind of gets contagious from there.”

Monday’s summary

Nationals 2, Royals 0

a-struck out for Drew in the 9th.

LOB: Washington 7, Kansas City 8. 2B: Zimmerman 2 (5), Murphy (9), Escobar (3). RBIs: Zimmerman (8), Murphy (13). SB: Taylor (4). CS: Harper (2), Cain (2).

Runners left in scoring position: Washington 5 (Werth 2, Rendon, Espinosa 2); Kansas City 2 (S.Perez, Morales). RISP: Washington 2 for 11; Kansas City 0 for 5. Runners moved up: Murphy, Taylor, Werth. GIDP: Taylor. DP: Kansas City 1 (Escobar, Hosmer).

Holds: O.Perez (4), Kelley (2), Solis (2). Inherited runners-scored: O.Perez 1-0. HBP: Gonzalez (Gordon).

Umpires: Home, Manny Gonzalez; First, Fieldin Culbreth; Second, CB Bucknor; Third, Jim Reynolds. Time: 3:09. Att: 32,394.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Royals’ offense disappears again in 2-0 loss to the Nationals."