Royals lose fifth in a row, fall 2-1 to Giants
The offense continues its woes.
The Royals offense continued their struggles managing just one run on five hits, and the team lost their fifth in a row, falling 2-1 to the Giants on Friday night.
Royals starter Michael Wacha ran into some trouble in the opening frame, giving up a leadoff single to Mike Yastrzemski, and walking Mark Canha. Heliot Ramos hit a one-out chopper to the right of Wacha that he couldn’t field cleanly, allowing Yastrzemski to score the game’s first run.
The Royals faced rookie Mason Black, a former third-round pick with a 7.07 ERA in 28 big league innings in his young career, who had yet to go more than five innings in a start. If the offense could get right against anyone, you would think it would be the rookie with little success.
The Royals had a prime opportunity to score in the second when Yuli Gurriel and MJ Melendez led off with singles. Adam Frazier sacrificed them over to give the Royals two runners in scoring position. But like they have done so often in the last few weeks, they stranded those runners, with Maikel Garcia lining out to first and Kyle Isble flying out to center.
The Giants added another run in the sixth when Ramos doubled off Wacha - one of his three hits as he finished a home run shy of the cycle. Patrick Bailey singled him home to make it 2-0 Giants. Wacha would leave the game after 5 2⁄3 innings and 96 pitches, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk, with five strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the Royals offense did not put a runner into scoring position after the second inning against Black. He would exit after 5 2⁄3 shutout innings, and relievers Sean Hjelle, Erik Miller, and Tyler Rogers kept the Royals off the board, in fact, off second and third base.
The game came down to the ninth, where the Giants brought in 2023 All-Star closer Camilo Doval. But Doval has been shaky all year, getting demoted to the minors at one point this season. He walked the first two hitters on eight pitches, giving the Royals a prime opportunity. After Adam Frazier struck out, Maikel Garcia hit a potential groundball double play. But shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald bobbled the ball, leaving the bases loaded with one out.
Garrett Hampson lined a ball just foul down the left field line, then lined another one that was JUST foul - enough that they reviewed it but did not overturn. Hampson would end up flying out to score the Royals’ only run. That left the game to Tommy Pham, but he continued his struggles with his third strikeout of the game in an 0-for-5 night, making him 4-for-his-last-29 with 12 strikeouts.
The Royals fall to 82-72 and will try to even the series tomorrow with Brady Singer scheduled to face Landen Roupp. The Tigers fell to the Orioles tonight, so the Royals did reduce their magic number to 7 tonight. But they will need to get the offense kickstarted soon if they want to ensure a playoff bid.