Freddy Fermín, Royals walk off 2-1 victory in 12th inning

Eventually, someone had to blink.

Eventually, someone had to score a run.

In a pitcher’s duel, it took all the way until extra innings for any of that to happen.

Finally, in the 11th inning, with the extra inning runner, the Red Sox managed to score their guy off two groundouts, one of which featured a ridiculous play at shortstop by Bobby Witt Jr to field a ricochet and throw out the runner at first. The Royals had to challenge to get that call right, but it was overturned pretty fast. Nevertheless, the Red Sox broke the shutout first with two groundouts.

But man, the Royals don’t quit. Starting at second, Drew Waters advanced on a wild pitch to Witt, who eventually walked. He got nothing even close to the strike zone. Vinnie followed up with a single to tie the game. Unfortunately, Salvy struck out, Maikel struck out, and Massey popped out. That just prolonged the game rather than ended it.

In the 12th inning, Cavan Biggio somehow managed to lay down a bunt off his pine tar. It was maybe the first defensive bunt I have ever seen. It kinda looked like he might have gotten hit in the face but for his bat. SOMEHOW he got the bunt down into fair territory and advanced Massey to third. A few pitches later, hero Freddy Fermín (who failed to get a bunt down earlier against Aroldis Chapman) popped a line drive into shallow left-center field that scored the winning run.

Walkoff.

Boy, it took a looooong time to get there though. Relatively speaking, you know, in the pitch clock era. This game still barely clocked over three hours.

Now, in this pitcher’s duel, Lorenzen looked pretty good. A Rafael Devers grounder just past an outstretched Salvy was the first Red Sox hit, and that wasn’t until one out in the 4th inning. Devers went to second on a wild pitch but advanced no further.

Lorenzen almost executed a behind-the-back catch of a comeback grounder but man…it just deflected off his glove for an infield hit. But it was still cool. It was so close.

He finished with seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and only three hits. No walks. He continued a “streak” of sorts, with the last 3 Royals starters each going 7 innings with 0 runs allowed. I’ll take it!

However, the Royals once again made a rookie pitcher (Hunter Dobbins) look like a Cy Young candidate. With six strikeouts in 3 2⁄3 innings, he matched his previous season-best that was achieved in six full innings. He’s not a particularly strong strikeout pitcher – his calling card is homer suppression – but the Royals found a way to make him look good.

I saw a few right-handers just get frozen with two strikes by down-and-in fastballs. There must be some good tunneling effect he has with his breaking junk. It was at least 4 guys who fell victim to this pitch. However, Dobbins would not strike out any more – he finished six innings with those aforementioned six strikeouts.

The only offense before extra innings worth mentioning was in the fifth, but they blew it. Isbel hit a deep fly ball to right-center field and went for the triple, which he got only because Bregman couldn’t handle the throw at third. Isbel would have been out had it been caught. With the infield in, Isbel ran on contact. Too bad the contact was a ground ball straight to the shortstop. Isbel was easily thrown out in a rundown, but India made it worse by trying for second. He also got thrown out. What a waste.

The broadcast talked about “taking risks” in a pitcher’s duel. Maybe they’re right? But … not like that. Double TOOTBLAN. No. Not like that. The baserunning TOOTBLANs are still a problem. I don’t like that.

In the end, the TOOTBLAN didn’t matter. The Royals got the W. That’s what matters the most.

The record is 24-16. The Royals are breathing down the Tigers’ neck for first place in the surprisingly competent AL Central (minus the Pope’s team in Chicago).

The Royals will play the Red Sox again tomorrow, Saturday May 10th, at 6:10pm US Central.

Get ready. It’s Cole Ragans day.