Astros’ starter outduels Royals starter for second night in a row, Royals lose 5-2

Ragans was amazing until he wasn’t.

Here’s a rule change the Royals could get behind if it were applied to tonight: let the Royals choose one inning to eliminate from the final results. If you did that, the Royals would have won 2-0. Alas, the sixth inning occurred.

For the first five innings of this game, it was an astonishing pitcher’s duel. Cole Ragans had struck out 10 and allowed only a single and a walk. At one point, he’d tied a Royals record by striking out eight in a row. (If, like me, you remembered that Blake Stein set that record against the Brewers back in 2001 you’ve been around for far too much Royals’ pain.)

On the other side, Yusei Kikuchi had just about matched him. The difference was that Kikuchi hadn’t walked anyone, but he had given up two hits. He gave up a third in the top of the sixth inning. Kyle Isbel led off with an opposite-field single and advanced to second on a Maikel Garcia groundout. Bobby Witt Jr. stepped to the plate having failed to hit in the first two games of the series. He has suffered back-to-back hitless games only four times this season. The last time he did that was when he went hitless for three games in a row for the only time this year as the Royals got swept the only time this year when playing in Arlington against the Rangers in late June. Witt lined a ball to right that seemed destined to be an RBI single and put the Royals in front for the first time in this series but Ben Gamel made a terrific diving play to make the out instead.

In the bottom of the inning, Gamel naturally led off with a single. No big deal, only the second hit Ragans had allowed all night. Then he hit Jose Altuve in the foot. With Yordan Alvarez at the plate Ragans went to work, but couldn’t get the borderline calls after getting Alvarez down 1-2 and eventually walked him. He got a groundball from catcher Yainer Diaz, but it found space and drove in two runs for the Astros. Suddenly things were looking dire. With Jeremy Peña at the plate, the Astros conducted a double steal. It didn’t matter because Peña immediately smacked a triple to give the Astros a four-run lead. Ragans failed to get an out in the inning and was relieved by Steven Cruz. Peña scored on a wild pitched but then Cruz buckled down and got out of the inning.

In fact, Cruz pitched two perfect innings. And then Stratton pitched a scoreless ninth thanks to a leaping catch by Garrett Hampson in right to rob a Yordan Alvarez home run.

The Royals managed to squeak a run across in the top of the seventh, In the top of the eighth, Bobby Witt Jr. belted a home run to left to get his first regulation hit in Texas this year. The broadcast reminded us that the Home Run Derby was in Arlington, so you could also say that Witt had 51 hits in Texas this season and they’re all home runs. Just one of them has counted in the standings, though. Witt may have defeated his hitless streak in Texas, but the Royals still haven’t won a game there.

There are still some silver linings. First of all, if the Royals can steal a win tomorrow they will still finish the eight-game road trip against division-leading teams .500, which would be impressive. They would also win the tiebreaker against the Astros which could still matter if the Royals can find a way to win the division. And just to remind us all where they’re coming from, the Royals still haven’t lost five in a row all year. Last year they had six such losing streaks, including one of seven, another of ten. and two more of six.

The Guardians, Twins, and Red Sox all lost tonight. That means the Royals are still holding the second Wild Card spot, four games clear of a playoff spot, a game clear of the Twins, and only three games back of the Guardians for the division lead. Their Magic Number shrank again and is now 22.

The Royals will also have reinforcements tomorrow, hopefully adding Tommy Pham, Robbie Grossman, and Yuli Gurriel will inject some much-needed juice into the Royals’ lineup that has been missing this entire series.

Alec Marsh will return to the Royals and make the start. Right-hander Ronel Blanco will go for the Astros. The game will start at 1:10 central time.