Carter Jensen hit a pair of doubles, drove in a run, and scored a pair to lead the Royals to their second straight victory and first win against Boston since August 6 of last year. The final score was 3-2 in favor of Kansas City.
It was kind of a weird start for Seth Lugo. I attempted to do a reverse jinx on him with the game preview, and he ultimately allowed only two runs in five innings. That’s good enough for now. However, looking toward the future, allowing 7 hits and 2 walks, even while striking
out 7, in 5 innings is not a recipe for sustained success.
He only threw seven of his pitches tonight and, perhaps most notably, eschewed the slow curve entirely. The curveball and four-seamer were both much more effective than they have been of late. Perhaps this is a sign he’s on the rebound.
For a while it seemed like the jinx on Sonny Gray might work, too. Gray came into the game with a 1.74 ERA against the Royals, the best among any pitchers with at least 10 starts against the team. Jensen’s first double led off the game. He advanced to third on a groundout from Bobby Witt Jr. and scored on a Salvador Perez single when Gray inexplicably threw Salvy a sinker in instead of the usual breaking stuff away.
In the third inning, it seemed like the Royals might just go ahead and knock out Gray then and there. Isaac Collins led off with an automatic double at 103.2 MPH down the right field line that hopped over the short fence near the pole. Carter followed up by smashing one at 102.6 off the monster in left to trade places with Collins. Bobby flew out to center at 103.3 to advance Carter to third and Vinnie Pasquantino hit one at 102.4 to give the Royals their final run. Sadly, Salvy grounded into a double play to end the inning and that was the last time KC would score.
The bullpen, as has occasionally been the case in the second half, while it was almost never the case in the first half, pitched well for four innings. Connor Thomas, Nolan Hoffman, Nate Pearson, and Steven Cruz combined for 3 strikeouts, 0 walks, and only 1 hit. That’s how you cling to a one-run lead for half of a game.
The Royals will play a late-afternoon match tomorrow. Randy Dobnak (2.54 ERA, 4.58 SIERA) will face off against Ranger Suarez (3.44 ERA, 3.95 SIERA) at 3:05 PM Central. Suarez, of course, is a lefty. So the Royals will have their work cut out for them.
