Brewers batters bully bullpen, boys in blue bested 6-5
The relief corps once again couldn’t get it done.
The Kansas City Royals snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, coming within a strike of winning but ultimately losing 6-5 to the Milwaukee Brewers this evening in Kansas City.
Both teams threatened with a couple baserunners in the first inning, but neither managed to score. Milwaukee wasted little time getting on the board in the second with back-to-back homers by Rhys Hoskins and Joey Ortiz to lead off the inning. Seth Lugo managed to settle down after the homers, retiring nine straight batters. Meanwhile, the Royals seemed committed to finishing their at-bats as quickly as possible. Brewers starter Colin Rea needed just 51 pitches to finish four scoreless innings.
The Royals managed to strike in the fifth. MJ Melendez knocked one just over the right fielder Sal Frelick’s head and hustled to third for a leadoff triple. Kyle Isbel knocked a single into left field to put the Royals on the board. After Maikel Garcia grounded out, Bobby Witt Jr. singled to put runners on the corners with two outs. Vinnie Pasquantino then ripped a double into the right-center gap to score both runners. Salvador Perez followed that with a hard double down the left field line to give Kansas City a 4-2 lead.
Lugo nearly finished the seventh inning and probably would have had Garcia not thrown away a groundball with two outs to let Blake Perkins reach second base. Angel Zerpa entered in relief and faced pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio, who knocked a grounder through the right side of the infield to bring Milwaukee within one run. Pasquantino knocked in another run in the bottom of the frame to extend the lead back to two runs.
After John Schreiber worked out of a jam in the eighth inning, James McArthur entered in the ninth staked to a 5-3 lead. He retired the first two batters and had William Contreras down to his last strike. But Contreras doubled down the line and then McArthur walked Gary Sánchez on five pitches. Facing Willy Adames, McArthur hung a curveball on 0-1 and Adames did not miss, smashing it into the left field bullpen to give Milwaukee a 6-5 lead.
The Royals had a chance to rally in the bottom of the ninth with the top of the order coming up against Trevor Megill. They did not — Megill retired the side on just eight pitches, all strikes, to close out the game.
The loss drops the Royals to 21-16. They will have another opportunity to take the series in a rubber match at Kauffman Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
Seth Lugo: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2 HR
Colin Rea: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Vinnie Pasquantino: 3-5, 2B, R, 3 RBI
Willy Adames: 1-4, HR, BB, 3 RBI, R