Diamondbacks strike back and KC loses 7-1

Will tomorrow be the return of the Royals?

It’s not Star Wars Day or anything, but some Royals fans yesterday represented A New Hope with KC demolishing the Diamondbacks. Today, the Diamondbacks struck back. Tomorrow the Royals will hope to return the favor. But first, let’s talk about today.

The story of today’s game, reflective of the Royals' season as a whole, can be told over the course of the bottom of the fifth and the top of the sixth. Michael Wacha entered the bottom of the fifth having allowed two runs but also having allowed far too many baserunners while throwing far too many pitches. Still, manager Matt Quatraro hoped he could at least get his team through five. Instead, he walked the first two hitters he saw.

Q called upon John Schreiber to save the team. Schreiber has seen the second-most inherited runners in baseball to this point in the season. Early on, he was deadly in those situations. Lately, he’s been a bit more hit and miss. Literally. Today, he got a weak flyout and a strikeout to give the Royals a chance to keep themselves in the game. Then Lourdes Gurriel Jr. smashed a groundball down the third base line. It was hit just hard enough and just in the right spot to stay fair but get past the diving Maikel Garcia. Suddenly, the two-run D-Back lead was doubled, and hope felt very far away. Schreiber struck out the next hitter but the damage was done.

Entering the top of the sixth, Serpientes’ starter Ryne Nelson was pitching a perfect game. He then retired Nick Loftin to get things started. But Freddie Fermin decided we didn’t deserve to watch a perfect game, even if it was against our favorite team, and lined a single to right. Kyle Isbel struck out looking, but Jonathan India singled to right as well. Suddenly, the Royals had a little two-out rally of their own going. Bobby Witt Jr. stepped to the plate and also lined a single to right. The Royals were on the board, and last night’s hero, Vinnie Pasquantino, stepped to the plate. He roped the ball to center field, 94.4 MPH off the bat, but Alek Thomas made a dazzling sliding catch to end the Royals’ nascent threat.

A whole heaping helping of not quite good enough with more than a dash of bad luck. I give you your 2025 Kansas City Royals.

If you were watching the game today, you saw one of the rarest plays in baseball, an inside-the-park home run for Randall Grichuk. Of course, if you were watching, you likely also saw the replay that showed the ball left the field and came back. But with no reason for either team to challenge it, it appears the original ruling will stand. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen that before.

The Royals will try to win the series and head home with a winning road trip tomorrow afternoon at 3:10 CDT. Michael Lorenzen will pitch for Kansas City and Zac Gallen will look for an opportunity to get right after what has been a very down season for the Diamondbacks' erstwhile ace.