Royals attempt ninth-inning comeback against Athletics but fall short 6-4
A three-run ninth gave a false glimmer of hope.
Michael Wacha’s changeup looked dangerous tonight, but not much else was working for him. He managed five strikeouts in 5 1⁄3 innings and gave up nine hits in those innings, including two home runs. It did not matter all that much because the Royals once again could not score, at least not until the very end.
He gave up the first of those two dingers in the second inning to Austin Wynns. It evoked Major League for me - “too high, too high”. I swear, I thought Nick Loftin would drift back to the warning track and just catch it. It was the laziest of fly balls, but...“What do you mean too high? It doesn’t matter, it’s gone”. The ball just lazily drifted into the bullpen for the A’s first run.
Wacha ran into more trouble in the third inning, but he managed to get out of it with minimal damage. He gave up a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with two outs. Nick Kurtz hit a hard one-hopper-looking grounder to Vinnie’s right, and he got a glove on it but could not totally knock it down. India was there to back him up but did not have enough time to get the out at first base. The A’s took a 2-1 lead on the play.
Wacha gave up the second homer to Luis Urías in the fourth inning. It was most definitely NOT a Major League “too high” lazy fly ball. I knew that one was gone as soon as it left the bat. It cleared the left field bullpen with ease.
The A’s chased Wacha in the sixth inning and blew the game open. After two singles, Q removed Wacha for Steven Cruz, who gave up another single to load the bases. He managed to get Brent Rooker out on strikes looking, but he walked Tyler Soderstrom to make it 4-1. The other Max Muncy hit a chopper ground ball just to the left of second base and neither Royals middle infielder could reach it. India hurt his shoulder on that dive but stayed in to finish the inning before being removed (why not just take him out then???). That hit scored two more runs to make it 6-1. Cruz got a strikeout to end the threat, but a five-run deficit at this point in the season feels insurmountable for the Royals.
The entirety of the Royals scoring was in the first inning and ninth inning. They made use of line drives into the left-center field gap on hittable pitches to score three of their four runs. In the first inning, Maikel Garcia, who was the only Royals hitter to have a strong game, blasted a liner with two outs, Vinnie walked, and then Salvador Perez reached down for another line drive to get the run in.
Unfortunately as I was pumping up Jac Caglianone, the next hitter, to my four-year-old and seven-year-old, he swung on an inside 3-0 pitch (which he did again later in the game!) and pulled a Hosmer grounder to second base to end the threat. My boys had already gone to bed by the time Jac’s single and first walk (!!!) came around in the fourth inning and ninth inning, respectively. Oh well. The Royals offense had nothing to offer against A’s starter Luis Severino, whom they did not chase until the eighth inning.
The Royals finally broke through in the ninth against A’s closer Mason Miller, who probably just wanted to allow more runs to get into a save situation. Miller walked Perez before Caglianone got that aforementioned first MLB walk of his career. Nick Loftin, following the scoring pattern of hitting line drives into the left center gap, blasted a long line drive into left center field, which Tyler Soderstrom misplayed to some extent (he did the same on a Maikel Garcia double in the eighth), scoring both runners. John Rave hit a deep fly ball to center field to score Loftin to make it 6-4 and ... interesting.
At this point, I will mention the strike zone. Kyle Isbel struck out looking on a pitch that was clearly not a strike. There were several such calls throughout the game of obvious balls called as strikes against the Royals. Losers complain about the refs, and, well, the Royals lost. I am doing my civic duty, and now that is done. Drew Waters immediately popped out after Isbel to end the game.
The Royals drop to 34-36, losing their fourth game in a row. The A’s improve to 27-44. The two teams play again on Saturday at 3:10pm US Central. I will be in attendance to watch what is rapidly turning into a train wreck.