Royals fend off Astros comeback, win 7-5

Big day for Massey

Michael Massey had a big game, Michael Wacha was once again solid, and the top third of the lineup accrued a combined seven hits to send the Astros back to earth in a 7-5 Royals victory down in Houston. Kansas City improves to 25-18, with the Astros slipping back to a .500 record at 20-20.

The Royals threatened in the first inning when Bobby Witt Jr. singled and Vinnie Pasquantino reached on a fielder’s-choice-but-everyone-was-safe situation. While they didn’t come around to score, it would be a harbinger of baserunners to come.

Massey led off the scoring in a big second inning with a solo home run, the first of a septet of Royals runs on the day.

Following Massey’s homer, the Royals put in the work to extend a two-out rally. Kyle Isbel doubled, and Jonathan India singled him home. Witt then tripled on a line drive to right-center field to drive India home, and Pasquantino singled to drive Witt home. By the end of the second inning, the Royals had scored as many runs (four) as they had all previous series.

Kansas City continued to pour it on with another trio of runs in the third inning. Massey and Cavan Biggio worked back-to-back walks, and Drew Waters singled to score Massey. Isbel walked, which spelled the end of Astros starter Ryan Gusto. India would hit another single to score Waters, and Witt notched a sac fly. Three innings in, and it was 7-0 Royals.

Wacha was good at limiting damage, though he wasn’t particularly sharp—he walked a pair and only got three strikeouts, while the Astros got eight hits against him. He came pretty close to combusting in the third inning, but Massey saved two runs with a diving stop on an Isaac Paredes line drive up the middle that he and Maikel Garcia (the shortstop for the day; Witt was DHing) turned into a nifty double play.

Good defense, folks. It matters.

Wacha ran into some more trouble in the seventh inning. He gave up consecutive doubles and then a single; two runs scored along the way. John Schreiber was able to clean up the mess, though, which was good.

And then in the eighth inning, Steven Cruz finally gave up some runs. Hey now—his ERA wasn’t going to be 0.00 forever. Yainer Diaz doubled and Cruz hit Victor Caratini with a pitch. Jake Meyers singled and Waters biffed the ball, which resulted in another run scored. Cam Smith’s groundout RBI brought the Astros their fifth run, their third of the inning. Fortunately, Carlos Estevez closed the door with a save.

Tomorrow, the Royals play the Astros again as they hope to gain ground against the apparently invincible Guardians and Tigers, both of whom also won tonight.