Three solo homers propel Royals past A’s in 3-2 win

Freddy Fermin had two of them and Kansas City avoids the sweep

It wasn’t pretty, but Kansas City got the job done. Desperate for a win to avoid being swept by the lowly Athletics, the Royals rode three solo shots and held on by the skin of their teeth for a 3-2 win. Bobby Witt Jr’s 8th inning homer proved to be the difference.

Kansas City improves to 42-34 while the Athletics fall to 28-49.

It was a big day for Freddy Fermin, who did most of the Royals' scoring. Fermin took Mitch Spence deep in the 2nd on a moonshot to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

He took him deep again two innings later on a 3-2 slider to double that lead to 2-0. It was Fermin’s second career two-homer game.

Unfortunately, Kansas City fell victim to some bad sequencing. The first Fermin homer was followed by an MJ Melendez double and Dairon Blanco single, but neither scored. The second homer was again followed by a Melendez double, but the Royals stranded him once again.

Fermin singled again in the 6th, followed by a Melendez walk, but Darion Blanco struck out after checking his swing to end the inning on a pitch that appeared out of the zone. It was officially a backward strikeout, but it looked like the umpire told Blanco that he had him on the swing.

The Royals managed seven base runners against Spence in his 6.0 innings of work, and six of them were Fermin and Melendez. Spence struck out seven Royals before being removed in the 7th.

Meanwhile, Seth Lugo put together another nice start for Kansas City. Lugo struck out just two Athletics in his first four innings of work before striking out four of the next five A’s. A two-out single and walk brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the 6th, but Lugo got Miguel Andujar to fly out and escape the jam.

Lugo struck out two more Athletics to start the 7th, upping his total to eight and having just reached 90 pitches. He had struck out six of the last 10 A’s at this point, before the wheels fell off a bit. Lawrence Butler roped a two-out double down the right field line before Zack Gelof took 1-1 slider on the outer half over the wall in center field to tie the game at 2-2. It was Gelof’s third homer of the series.

Lugo walked Kyle McCann to put the go-ahead run on base, at which Matt Quatraro had seen enough. James McArthur replaced him and immediately gave up a double down the right field line on a slurve well out of the zone, a double that didn’t hurt Kansas City thanks to McCann being thrown out at the plate.

Despite the rough finish, Lugo still had a strong start, giving the Royals 6.2 innings of work and giving up just two runs. And luckily for Lugo, he plays on the same team as Bobby Witt Jr, who sent Vinny Nittoli’s 3-2 sweeper 422 feet over the left field fence, giving Kansas City the lead once again.

The Royals bullpen wasn’t content to make it easy, though. McArthur walked Max Schuemann to start the inning, only to pick him off a few pitches later. That pickoff ultimately saved a run. With two outs, McArthur issued a walk and a single, putting runners on the corners with two outs.

Quatraro brought Angel Zerpa in to shut the door and he did, getting Tyler Nevin to ground into a fielder’s choice. Witt Jr made it a bit tougher in the 9th than it had to be, allowing Butler to reach on an error to lead off the inning. Worse, the error brought Gelof to the plate representing the winning run.

Zerpa threw a perfect 1-2 slider to get Gelof looking. Gelof protested the call, along with the Athletics dugout, but the pitch was in the zone. McCann ended up getting ejected by home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn for arguing the call.

Shea Langeliers followed with a broken-bat single into right to put the tying run in scoring position. Oakland brought in Daz Cameron to pinch hit for Abraham Toro, which Quatraro responded to by bringing in Chris Stratton for the save.

Cameron flew out to right, moving Butler to third with two outs, but Stratton got Schuemann to fly out to center and end the game and avoid the sweep. Let’s get the heck out of Oakland.

Up Next: Royals at Rangers, Friday, June 21, 7:05 PM CDT, Globe Life Field. RHP Brady Singer (4-4, 3.39 ERA) v. Nathan Eovaldi (3-3, 3.15 ERA)