Royals made headlines for hitting three Astros players, but it wasn’t nefarious
There was outrage among baseball fans when the details of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal became public knowledge earlier this year.
The Astros were widely mocked at spring training by other MLB players and fans.
Some surmised opposing pitchers would mete out punishment by purposely hitting Astros players. Others hoped that would be the case.
So the Royals’ 15-6 loss to the Astros in an exhibition game Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium made news because three Houston players were hit by a pitch.
Here’s what ESPN’s SportsCenter tweeted:
A bit of context: Both of those hit batters came with the bases loaded. There’s zero chance that Royals pitcher Jorge Lopez hit the Astros players on purpose. And the third hit batter came on a breaking ball that got away from Royals minor league pitcher Jackson Kowar.
Nevertheless, USA Today wrote a story with the headline, “Three Houston Astros stars got hit by pitches against the Royals.” The writer did mention, however, that the pitches “didn’t seem intentional.”
Bar Down had a story with the headline, “Royals’ Jorge Lopez hit Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman in consecutive at-bats.”
That story noted: “Even though the season has been reduced to just 60 games, it’s still probably going to be a long year for the Astros’ batters.”
The Washington Post story had this headline, “Three Astros pitchers hit by pitches in exhibition game, much to the pleasure of some fans.”
Here is an excerpt: “There may not have been any actual intention by Royals pitchers Jorge Lopez and Jackson Kowar ...
“On the other hand … what better time to throw people off the scent than to plunk batters with the sacks jacked? It’s not like the runs counted for a whole lot, given that this was an exhibition game.”
Anyone watching the game, however, would have surmised there was nothing to the hit batters.
The Houston Chronicle noted there was nothing intentional and Matt Young wrote: “That sort of unfounded speculation is likely to be a theme throughout this truncated 2020 season as fans are angry about the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal during the 2017 season.”
