The first inning was a little wild in this one. First, the Royals scored a run on an unusual play. Bobby singled because he is really fast though not his most impressive work with the bat. Then Carter Jensen singled and Witt went first to third. Then this happened:
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Salvador’s little flare was not caught by Jacob Wilson because he did not close his glove on purpose? It is hard to say definitively. He throws to second for the out at which point Bobby takes off for home. McNeil threw home rather than try to double off Perez at first, which was not a for sure out, but seemed the safer play. Then in the bottom of the first, Oakland had their hitting coach ejected. It was hard to tell exactly why, but whatever he said did not sit well with John Libka who was behind home plate tonight.
Unfortunately, the Royals could not get any more runs off of Luis Severino. He looked very good and the KC bats just could not get much going. Severino finished with 7IP, 4h, 2BB, and 8Ks by hitting his spots and staying on the edges of the strike zone. Meanwhile, the Oakland offense scored a run on back-to-back doubles from Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil to begin the bottom of the second to tie it up. Then in the 4th Wilson and McNeil started it again with a pair of singles, only this time Lawrence Butler brought them both in as part of a 3-run Home Run and take a 4-1 lead. A 5th run almost scored later that inning, but Lane Thomas gunned Kurtz down at home:
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He was called safe initially, but the Royals challenged and won. Oakland had to wait until the 6th to get that fifth run in. Nick Kurtz was prevented from scoring it himself, but he hit a gapper to score Darrell Hernaiz against Luinder Avila who took over after Wacha racked up 105 pitches through his five frames. There was also a long rehashing of Hud calling the moon a planet there in the 6th, so at least the booth is in midseason form. Alex Lange and Mason Black put up clean innings in the 7th and 8th to hopefully keep it in reach.
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The Royals would try to stage a comeback for the third game in a row. Joel Kuhnel had taken over for Severino to start the 8th and got through that inning unscathed. Then in the 9th it got a little more interesting. Bobby Witt Jr. singled to begin the inning and then then two batters later Slavador Perez had an infield single to short by hitting it slow enough and far enough away from Wilson to buy time for his sprint down the base path. Kuhnel then spiked a pitch to Michael Massey that moved them up to 2nd and 3rd base. Massey hit a deep fly to center to get Bobby home and Salby to third on the sacrifice. Mark Leiter Jr. came in to take over from the Athletic’s bullpen. He walked Isaac Collins and brough the potential tying run to the plate in the form of Jac Caglianone. Jac did not tie it up and struck out to end the game. The series will be decided tomorrow.
And so, Kansas City’s four game win streak is over as the team falls to 12-18 on the season. Thursday will see Noah Cameron on the mound for an afternoon game to wrap up the club’s time in Sacramento.
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