The Kansas City Royals scored early and often while bullpenning their way through an 8-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants this afternoon at Oracle Park.
San Francisco ace Logan Webb starting by doing what he typically does by coaxing groundballs from the first two batters. Fortuitously, both of them found holes as Maikel Garcia slapped one the other way before Bobby Witt Jr. punched it through the 5-6 hole. Vinnie Pasquantino then dunked one into center, scoring Garcia and giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead. They had the opportunity for more, but Webb struck out the next three batters to end the inning. Daniel Lynch IV labored some to begin his first start of the season, allowing a couple baserunners in the bottom of the first but escaping with a scoreless inning.
The Royals went back to work on Webb again in the second. With one out, they got consecutive singles from Michael Massey, Kyle Isbel, and Garcia. Garcia’s was a bullet through the left side of the infield to score Massey and put Isbel on third. Witt followed with a liner to right that was caught by Mike Yastrzemski but was more than deep enough to score Isbel from third and give the Royals a 3-0 lead.
Lynch eclipsed his season-high in pitch count in the bottom of the second and it showed. He retired the first two batters before walking Patrick Bailey and LaMonte Wade Jr., who entered the game with OBP’s of .230 and .271 this season, respectively. With San Francisco’s lineup turning over, Matt Quatraro turned to the bullpen, calling on Jonathan Bowlan. He needed just two pitches to end the inning.
The Giants got on the board in the second. With a 1-2 count to Matt Chapman, Bowlan threw a backup slider that Chapman blasted out to left for a no-doubt homer. Jung Hoo Lee followed by ripping a grounder past Salvador Perez and down the right field line for a double. Quatraro got another arm going in the bullpen, but Bowlan settled down to retire the next three batters.
Kansas City kept constant pressure on Webb. They managed another two singles in the third but didn’t score. Isbel led off the fourth with a bouncer to Wade that should have been a 3U, but he booted it to allow Isbel to reach. Garcia then hit a bouncer back to Webb, who opted to take the out at first base. Witt hit a ball into left-center that split the outfielders perfectly, scoring Isbel easily and allowing Witt to cruise into second. Two batters later, Perez gave Webb a season-high in hits allowed and runs allowed with one swing, going oppo taco with a homer that gave Kansas City a 6-1 lead.
It was Steven Cruz’s turn to pitch the fourth. He earned the ignominious distinction of being the first pitcher this season to surrender a home run to Bailey, a solo shot to center that made the score 6-2. Wade then battled for a walk and Heliot Ramos fought off a pitch on his hands with an opposite field single. Quatraro stuck with Cruz with two runners on. Cruz retired Chapman for the second out before walking Lee to load the bases. Still Quatraro stuck with Cruz. He would be bailed out by Isbel, who made a lovely catch on a sinking line drive for the third out.
Spencer Bivens took over for Webb in the fifth and needed just four pitches to put runners on the corners. For the third time in this game, the Royals managed three consecutive hits as Massey stroked one the other way for an RBI knock. A sac bunt and a sac fly later, Kansas City was leading 8-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Cruz accomplished something no pitcher had been able to do in this game by retiring the side in order. Shortly after this, this website’s CMS crashed, which meant I couldn’t continue writing this for a little while. Fortunately, nothing of note happened in that time, with both teams combining for just two baserunners from the bottom of the fifth through the eighth inning.
The Royals took an 8-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Lucas Erceg came in to close things out. With the season he’s having, you would think that final score would hold. You’d be wrong. Wade led off the inning with a single and Ramos smashed a backup slider into the seats in left-center to make it 8-4. Erceg would walk Lee as well but got a nice diving catch from Drew Waters and a strikeout to finish off the Giants and secure the series victory.
The win improves Kansas City to 28-23. They will get tomorrow off before starting a three-game set in Minnesota against the Twins on Friday night.
Daniel Lynch IV: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Logan Webb: 4.0 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Salvador Perez: 3-5, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Heliot Ramos: 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
