Royals blow four-run lead, drop opening game to Tigers 7-6

A Bobby Witt grand slam wasted

Tonight’s game between the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals felt, in a lot of ways, like a playoff game. It was a close contest with a crowd eager to show their appreciation for the boys in blue. Alas, sloppy defense, poor starting pitching, and poor relief pitching combined in a dubious stew that saw that Royals blow a four-run lead and the game to the Tigers, 7-6.

Tigers starter Reese Olson didn’t have his best stuff, and the Royals capitalized in the third inning. Adam Frazier led off with a walk, and Yuli Gurriel’s grounder to the left side of the infield was deflected by shortstop Trey Sweeney for a hit. Kyle Isbel notched an infield hit, and while Tommy Pham struck out, that brought Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate with one out. He responded by hitting his 32nd home run of the year, a grand salami just fair to his pull side.

Salvador Perez knocked Olson out of the game with a single, and while Sean Guenther was able to induce a double play to end the inning—an unfortunate theme of the night—the Royals were into the bullpen. Kansas City tacked on their fifth run in the next frame off an MJ Melendez triple and Kyle Isbel single, and secured a sixth run off yet another triple (Isbel’s) with a Witt infield single to score him.

On the pitching front, Seth Lugo was good until he wasn’t. The feisty Tigers lineup managed to get to him in the fourth inning stemming from a triple of Detroit’s own off the bat of Zach McKinstry. But it was the fifth inning that really did Lugo in. Witt’s throwing error allowed one run, and Colt Keith smashed a three-run home run to make it 6-4 Royals.

Sam Long came in to relieve Lugo, but it wouldn’t be long before Long would cough up some runs. After Vance Wilson got tossed in between innings for...some reason, Andy Ibanez and Jake Rogers singled. Wenceel Perez doubled to score both and tie the game. John Schreiber came in with one on base and naturally uncorked a wild pitch. This allowed Matt Vierling to single and score Perez, who had previously advanced to third base. That put the Tigers ahead 7-6.

Following James McArthur’s seventh inning, in which he was removed mid-plate appearance for a hand injury, the Royals had two golden chance to score and didn’t take either of them. With two on and one out in the seventh, Witt popped up and Salvador Perez flied out to end the inning. And with two on and no outs in the eighth, Melendez struck out and Maikel Garcia hit into a double play. It would be the last chance, as Jason Foley sat the Royals down in order with authority in the ninth inning.

At 82-69, the Royals are backing into the playoffs despite having been presented opportunities to claim higher seeds or differentiate themselves from their rivals. The Twins have gone 6-9 in September and the Orioles have gone 6-8 in September, but the Royals have only played .500 ball including tonight in the final month of the season so far. While they have a four-game lead for a playoff spot, the team on the outside looking in is Detroit, who are very motivated to continue to beat the Royals. Should Kansas City get swept, the last week of the season will be very, very dicey, so let’s hope the Royals can fight back tomorrow.