Royals take crushing 5-4 loss in Minnesota

The Royals took a loss on yet another walk off hit in Minneapolis this time at the hands of Brooks Lee. Today was the first of two day games this weekend against the Twins in Minnesota and was the second game of the three game series. The Royals started the game up 4-0 but blew the lead in the 5th/6th innings and lost 5-4 in devastating fashion yet again.

The Royals’ offense needed a bounce-back game today, after really struggling to score runs in the first game of the series. The Royals have consistently struggled with their ability to come up with a big hit to drive in runners this season, and today was a great opportunity to bounce back against struggling Twins pitcher Zebby Matthews.

The Royals’ offense appeared to be repeating itself, getting runners on early in the second inning, but back-to-back Ks by Drew Waters and Michael Massey stranded runners on first and second. Then in the third a similar story began, when a leadoff hit by Freddy Fermin was followed by a fly out and a strikeout by Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. But a single by Vinnie Pasquantino and a walk from Salvador Perez loaded the bases for Maikel Garcia, who came through with a single to drive in two to give the Royals an early lead.

Kansas City was able to get Zebby Matthews out of the game early, as he was only able to make it through four innings. The Royals were able to take Matthews deep into the count several times, with eight-pitch ABs to Drew Waters and Bobby Witt Jr, and a nine-pitch AB to Maikel Garcia, and despite only allowing two runs, they had 81 pitches through four innings. Matthews finished the game with nine strikeouts and only one walk, but used a lot of pitches and was pulled early in favor of Justin Topa for the fifth.

The Royals’ offense did not slow down against the bullpen, as they immediately were able to tag Justin Topa in the fifth. Jonathan India opened the inning with a five-pitch walk, but was followed by Bobby Witt Jr, who continued to struggle and got his third strikeout in three ABs. Fortunately, Vinnie Pasquantino was able to pick him up with an RBI double, and then was followed by a left field single by Salvador Perez to drive in the second run of the inning. The Royals were able to load the bases with singles from Mark Canha and Drew Waters, but Michael Massey lined out to end the inning with the Royals up 4-0.

Not to be outdone, the Twins came back with a flare in the bottom of the fifth, with a lead-off HR by Harrison Bader to get the Twins on the board. Wacha then hit Willie Castro and gave up a single to Christian Vasquez. This was followed by a ground out by Trevor Larnach, which got Ty France to the plate with runners on second and third. France hit a single to right field and drove in both runners.

Wacha managed to get out of the inning with the Royals up 4-3, but remained shakey and after giving up a leadoff homer again in the sixth was pulled from the game with a 4-4 tie on the board. Wacha had a similar performance to games past, where he was elite in the first few innings, but once he got to the third time through the order started to struggle. Harrison Bader was the only person to get an RBI in the first two times through the order, and after a the HR by Kody Clemens in the sixth, Wacha was pulled in favor of Angel Zerpa.

Outside of the struggles by Justin Topa, the bullpens for both teams looked good. The Royals had shut down innings from Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber,Lucas Erceg worked around a tough eighth inning. For the Twins, Alcala, Stweart, Jax and Duran combined for eight strikeouts and did not allow a run.

Daniel Lynch had two walks in the ninth, and was only able to get one out before he was replaced by Steven Cruz. Cruz came out to face Royals killer Ty France with one out and runners on first and second, and forced a grounder back to the mound that Cruz could not avoid and resulted in just one out. He then proceeded to face Brooks Lee who grounded one up the middle and ended the game with a walk-off single. Kansas City standed 12 runners on base and had 18 strikeouts in their second walk-off loss in as many days.

Winners

Vinnie Pasquantino – 3-4 at the plate, scored two runs and had an RBI

Salvador Perez – 2-4 with a walk and an RBI

Mark Canha – 2-4 with a walk

Angel Zerpa – Shut down inning

John Schreiber – Shut down inning

Losers

Daniel Lynch IV – Two walks and 1 ER in .1 innings

Steven Cruz – Gave up game winning hit and got in the way of a double play that could have ended the inning

Bobby Witt Jr – 1-5 with 4 strikeouts

Michael Massey – 0-4

Drew Waters – 1-5 with 3 strikeouts