No excuses here, but the Royals probably were facing a tall task as they headed into the nightcap of today’s doubleheader. It’s tough to sweep a doubleheader against any team; the Red Sox are a very good team. The Red Sox were also starting David Price, who despite a rough start to the season is still, you know, David Price.
Priced Out
The last time we saw Price on the Kauffman Stadium mound was the completely bananas Game Six of the 2015 ALCS. This game had none of that drama, partially because of course it is not late October but mostly because Price was quite good. The left-hander limited the Royals to five hits and a walk through 7 1/3 innings, and he struck out five. Kansas City’s offense consisted of a Salvador Perez home run in the fourth, and then an Alcides Escobar double and Lorenzo Cain single (off reliever Junichi Tazawa) in the eighth.
Steady Eddie Mostly Steady
For a while there, Royals starter Edinson Volquez was just about matching Price. He allowed five hits and two walks through the first five innings. The game began ominously, with a double and a walk, but a David Ortiz fly ball and Hanley Ramirez double play grounder kept Boston scoreless. The Red Sox picked up one run in the second on Jackie Bradley, Jr.’s home run (which extended his hitting streak to 24 games; luckily for the Royals, Bradley can go pick on Cleveland for a few games now). They scored again when Mookie Betts led off the third with a home run. But Volquez was at least keeping the Royals in the game until the sixth. Against this lineup, it’s hard to complain about that.
Sixth Inning Curse Strikes Again
All that changed in the sixth inning. Of course Volquez retired Ortiz and Ramirez to start the inning. Of course he did. That made it look like the inning would be easy. But a walk and a double put runners at second and third. The Royals elected to walk Bradley. That brought up Boston catcher Christian Vazquez, hitting a cool .239/.292/.358 coming into the game. Of course he singled up the middle to drive in two runs. Of course he did. I haven’t looked it up, but it seems like half the runs the Royals have allowed this year have come off tired starters in the sixth inning (the other half have come in the first inning). Anyway, those two runs were the nails in the coffin for this game. Not surprisingly, that was your WPA Play of the Game, adding a tidy 18% to Boston’s chances.
Nice Moments
Between games of the doubleheader, the Royals announced they were sending Christian Colon down to Omaha, designating Omaha outfielder Jose Martinez for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, and bringing up Whit Merrifield. Luckily they told Merrifield about this yesterday, so his family was at Kauffman Stadium for his major league debut. Playing left field to give Alex Gordon a break, Merrifield acquitted himself well enough. He made a nice read on a ball off the wall to hold a Red Sox runner at third. And in the fifth, he picked up his first major league hit, a single to left. That’s always cool to see. The fact it came against a potential Hall of Famer makes it even cooler.
And Merrifield wasn’t the only player making his debut. Alec Mills, called up from Northwest Arkansas to be the 26th man for the doubleheader, got into the game in the eighth. His debut wasn’t quite as fun; he allowed a run on a hit, two walks, and a hit batter. Thanks to Chien-Ming Wang, who got the final out of the inning against Ortiz to keep Mills’ career ERA from being very ugly. Let’s hope Mills gets a chance to bring it down sometime in the future.
Up Next
Tomorrow is an off-day for the Royals as they travel to Chicago for an early-season showdown with the White Sox. For all the hand-wringing about hte Royals’ slow start, they are 20-20 at the quarter-mark of the season and only four games behind Chicago. The first of 19 games between the two teams this year will start Friday night at 7:10 pm, with Dillon Gee going against Jose Quintana. Enjoy the day off; the Royals don’t have another one scheduled until June 9.
Photo credit: Denny Medley, USA Today Sports