In an ugly display of baseball futility, the Royals dropped the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays, 13-2. The Rays, utilizing their bullpen for the entire game, didn’t allow a Royals hit until the ninth inning when Carter Jensen hit a two-run home run, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.
There really isn’t anything else positive to say about the Royals today. They stunk. They slept through this game on both sides of the ball. The Rays totaled 15 hits, four of which left the yard, and another
two went for doubles. Royals pitchers, led by starter Seth Lugo, struck out only five and walked two.
Just a pathetic display of baseball from the Royals.
Things went south pretty quickly. In the bottom of the first, after Jonathan Aranda singled with one out, Rays third baseman Junior Caminero took Lugo deep on a hard-hit, towering flyball to left field. 2-0, Rays.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth when Victor Mesa Jr. hit his third home run of the season, this one a three-run homer.
5-0, Rays.
Meanwhile, the Royals offense looked awful against opener Casey Legumina and then Ian Seymour. Seymour dominated the Royals–the lefty pitched 6-and-2/3 innings, struck out seven, walked one, and surrendered zero hits. He picked up the win to improve to 4-1 as the Rays win their second consecutive game to improve to 45-33 on the season. They are second in the AL East, 2.5 games back of the Yankees, while also holding the top Wild Card spot.
Lugo, clearly, didn’t pitch as well. He stayed in a bit longer and gave up another home run to Caminero and then another run for funsies. On the day, he pitched five innings, gave up seven hits, struck out three, walked two, and allowed seven runs, all earned. He’s now 3-5 with a 4.18 ERA. What a tantalizing trade piece.
Just because Lugo left the game didn’t mean Caminero was done, though. He hit another home run, this one a three-run shot off, uh, Tyler Tolbert, to make it 13-o in the eighth. Today marks Caminero’s first career three-home-run game. I doubt it’s his last. That dude is good.
The Royals finally gained a baserunner in the sixth when Starling Marte worked the first of his two walks on the day. He added another in the ninth before scoring on Jensen’s homer off the Husk of Craig Kimbrel.
Not much else to say. The loss drops the Royals to 34-48. An ugly loss during an ugly season.
That’s Thursday morning baseball for you. If you watched today’s game, go do something fun now. You deserve it.
