Gee whiz, Royals blanked 5-0 by Braves

The Royals needed to find an alternative starting pitcher on Saturday and dipped into their bullpen. But where can they go when the bats need a boost?

The lowly Braves blanked the Royals and starter Dillon Gee 5-0 in front of 36,451 on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium.

Gee was pressed into his first start since June 14 last season, when he was with the Mets. Ironically, the opponent and counterpart were the same as Saturday — the Braves and Mike Foltynewicz.

Gee gave the Royals five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth. With the lineup providing no support, Gee worked with no margin for error.

The Braves scored three runs, one on Ender Inciarte’s double and two more on Kelly Johnson’s bloop single to left. Luke Hochevar was summoned to halt the damage, and he did, ending Gee’s night after 5  1/3 innings.

“I felt pretty good, I just didn’t make pitches that last inning,” Gee said. “I felt fine. I just stopped locating the ball that last inning and left the ball up.”

In Gee’s last start 11 months ago, he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, surrendering eight earned runs. Gee was designated for assignment the next day and wasn’t part of the Mets’ run to the World Series.

The Royals signed Gee to a minor-league contract with no roster spot guaranteed.

As the rotation started taking shape, it became evident that Gee’s value, at least early on, would be as a bullpen innings eater. Indeed, his pitch counts exceeded 60 twice, including 68 in the series opener against the Yankees on Monday.

His long duty and experience as a starter — Saturday marked the 111th start of Gee’s career, and there had been only four relief appearances before this season — made him a logical choice for one of the starts after Chris Young and Kris Medlen went on the disabled list earlier in the week.

Foltynewicz was making his third start of the season, and he didn’t distinguish himself in the first two. But he befuddled the Royals throughout the evening Saturday. He went a career-best eight innings, surrendered seven hits and struck out four.

“He was very good,” said Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, who was hitless in four plate appearances. “He was throwing gas tonight, moving the ball inside and outside in the zone.”

Foltynewicz was comfortable pitching in spacious Kauffman Stadium for the first time in his career.

“It’s a good pitcher’s park, especially with the wind blowing in,” Foltynewicz said. “I just wanted to attack them.”

When the Braves tacked on two more runs in the eighth on A.J. Pierzynski’s double against Chien-Ming Wang — both runs were charged to Scott Alexander — the comeback hope lost that much more steam.

The Royals had some early chances. A first-inning scoring opportunity was lost when Eric Hosmer, who had singled to left and moved Lorenzo Cain to third with one out, was caught leaning and was picked off by Foltynewicz. Kendrys Morales struck out to end the inning.

The Royals also could do nothing after Salvador Perez’s one out double in the second or Paulo Orlando’s one-out double in the eighth.

The Braves did themselves no favors early on. They opened the third and fourth innings with base hits only to have both runners caught stealing. Mallex Smith was caught by Gee and tagged out in a rundown, and Inciarte was gunned down by Perez.

But the Braves would eventually strike, and even broke a season-long drought when Smith opened the ninth with a triple, the Braves’ first three-base hit of the season.

The Royals, looking to reach .500 for the season and win consecutive games for the first time since April 21-22, instead were shut out for a fifth time this season, the most in the American League. They will need a victory on Sunday to clinch the series against the team that entered Saturday’s game tied for the worst record in baseball.

Braves 5, Royals 0

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 9:14 PM with the headline "Gee whiz, Royals blanked 5-0 by Braves."