The Royals fell 5-3 after another very Luinder Avila start and one too many trips to the bullpen. Matt Strahm gave up the final blow, a two-run home run to Samuel Basallo. Before that, it was a pretty close game.
As noted above, Luinder Avila got the start in this one for KC. He pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 runs with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks. It was a real grind for Avila as it seemed like he was always pitching with a full count even with only the 3 walks. That meant it took him 96 pitches to get
through those 5 innings.
Avila gave up two of the runs with two outs in the second inning. The Royals managed to tie it in the fourth thanks to a Michael Massey walk (he’s been doing that a lot lately) and a Josh Rojas double. But before that, Jac Caglianone smoked his first home run since that two-home run game in Tampa Bay almost two weeks ago.
Avila got Blaze Alexander down 0-2 with one out in the bottom of the inning, which caused the booth to praise him for his good work following the offense tying the game. He promptly hung a slider that went a long way. The score remained 3-2 until the eighth inning, with Steven Cruz pitching a clean sixth with a strikeout. Daniel Lynch IV did the same in the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, Isaac Collins led off the inning with a home run to dead center. Which I wasn’t entirely sure he could do.
In the bottom of the eighth, having already used Lynch, Matt Quatraro went fellow Matt Strahm for the eighth. The broadcast played a clip of Strahm getting his first strikeout in the big leagues to help celebrate Strahm reaching his 10 years of service time. That’s a big deal for MLB players because it’s when their pensions fully vest, and it also just signifies a pretty dang long MLB career.
Unfortunately, Strahm celebrated by giving up a single to Pete Alonso and a line drive home run to Samuel Basallo. Michael Massey ripped a double off the wall in the top of the ninth, but he was the only Royal to reach in that inning.
The Royals have lost three straight. They also had a baserunning blunder in the top of the fifth when Isaac Collins ripped a ball off the right field wall but overslid second and allowed Gunnar Henderson to tag him out. They’ve got two more games before the mercy of the All-Star Break. Though I wouldn’t blame any of you if you focused more on the Draft tomorrow and Sunday, as well as the Futures Game Sunday. If you are still interested, though, they’ll play tomorrow night at 6 PM central. Noah Cameron will face Kyle Bradish.
