Royals squander ninth-inning lead, lose to Indians 5-4

In the minutes after the winning streak was done, after his team had handed one to an opponent, Royals manager Ned Yost pondered the decisions and the breakdowns. The sting was still fresh. The reality pretty self evident.

“We basically gave a game away today,” Yost said. “If we would have played our game, we would have won that game.”

On Thursday night here at Progressive Field, the Royals wasted a two-run lead over the final two innings, lost a six-game winning streak, and swallowed hard after watching the Cleveland Indians walk off with a 5-4 victory in the bottom of the ninth.

On the first night of a 10-game road trip, the Royals’ usually reliable defense had wobbled and then stumbled. A much-maligned infielder had committed another throwing gaffe that led to a run. A defensive replacement had committed two mistakes during an excruciating ninth inning.

The game was lost — officially, anyway — when reliever Joakim Soria allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. But the seeds of the defeat were planted days earlier, when closer Wade Davis was called on to put out a ninth-inning fire in a 10-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. Because he had been used that day, and because he had recorded his 16th save on Wednesday, he was not available to throw on Thursday, which would have been his fourth appearance in five days. That left Yost short-handed in the bullpen.

“We check with him and see how he’s feeling,” Yost said of Davis. “And if we get any little bit of hesitation, we shut him down. It’s one of those things where he needed a day.”

With Davis unavailable, Yost turned to Soria, who had recorded 14 scoreless appearances in 15 outings and logged a 1.35 ERA in May after a poor stretch in April. Soria was handcuffed by a shaky defense, including two mistakes by right fielder Paulo Orlando, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the ninth.

Here's how the final sequence went down: Cleveland’s Carlos Santana opened the inning with a single to right, then advanced to second when Orlando misplayed the ball in the outfield grass. Jason Kipnis followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving the runner to third. Shortstop Francisco Lindor then hit a liner into shallow right field.

Orlando charged hard for the ball, sprawling out onto the grass in an attempt to make the catch. The ball got past him and rolled toward the wall. In seconds, the game was tied at 4-4, and Lindor was standing on third base with a one-out triple.

One batter later, Mike Napoli lofted a fly ball to left field. Jarrod Dyson set his feet and made a strong throw, but it pulled catcher Drew Butera up the line.

As Lindor slid across the plate, the Indians spilled out of the dugout.

After piecing together three comeback victories over the White Sox in the last week, including the greatest ninth-inning comeback in franchise history, the Royals, 30-23, had to reckon with their own collapse.

“Every single game is important to us,” Soria said. “We were on a run, feeling pretty good, and we feel that we could have won this one, too. But this is baseball and things happen.”

The Royals had won six straight games and 13 of 16, their best run since August of 2014. As the club opened a four-game series in Cleveland, they needed to win three of four to win their seventh straight series.

Yost elected to rest utility man Whit Merrifield and Orlando. Merrifield had batted .360 and played sound defense at three positions, including second base. Orlando batted better than .400 during the month of May. On Thursday, Yost tested the depth of his roster once more.

Outfielder Reymond Fuentes returned to the lineup in right field. Second baseman Omar Infante made another start at second. The first decision paid off — Fuentes had the first three-hit night of his career — the second produced more porous defense.

In the span of nine innings, Infante couldn’t handle a screaming line drive from the bat of Kipnis, failed to complete one difficult double play, and then made a ghastly throw on a tailor-made double play in the eighth, gifting another run to the Indians and slicing the Royals’ lead to 4-3.

In the moments after the loss, Yost was asked if Infante’s arm was healthy. He stressed that it was.

“His arm is fine,” he said. “We were commenting today how good he’s throwing the ball. Just a bad throw.”

Infante, 34, finished 0 for 4 in the loss, his average dropping to .239 with a .279 on-base percentage in 134 at-bats this season. As the month of May dragged on, Infante saw his playing time reduced — first for Christian Colon and then for Merrifield, who seized on the opportunity.

Yost said he sought to keep Infante fresh by playing him three to four times per week. Before starting at second base on Wednesday, Infante had started just twice in his last seven games.

Yet he was in the lineup again on Thursday. At the age of 34, Infante lacks the useful skills of his prime — defensive range, arm strength, a solid bat — the tools that made him a useful cog during seasons in Atlanta, Miami and Detroit.

Before the 2014 season, the Royals signed Infante to a four-year, $30 million deal. As the summer approaches in 2016, the club still owes Infante more than $12 million through 2017.

The late meltdown ruined a winning streak and marred the first night of a long road trip, a jaunt that will take the Royals through Cleveland, Baltimore and Chicago. The defensive errors also squandered a bounce-back start from right-hander Yordano Ventura, who allowed two runs (one earned) in six innings.

“They’ve always played good defense,” Ventura said, through translator Pedro Grifol. “When a mistake is made, you just move on and you expect them to come out tomorrow and do what they do best.”

For another night, Kansas City remained in first place, ahead of both Chicago, 29-25, and Cleveland, 28-24. But as Yost sat in his office on late Thursday night, he could not move past the feeling: The Royals gave one away.

“We’re so strong defensively, it wins games for us,” Yost said. “But tonight in the eighth and ninth inning, we just made a series of errors that cost us the game.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 9:19 PM with the headline "Royals squander ninth-inning lead, lose to Indians 5-4."