This author is upset he had to stay up so late to see such a lifeless offensive performance.
The Kansas City Royals waited two and a half hours through a rain delay just for the bullpen to falter and the offense to not show up as the Tampa Bay Rays took down Kansas City 5-1 tonight.
After a couple baserunners reached but a double play erased the threat in the first, the Rays had Brady Singer in trouble in the second. With one out, Richie Palacios hit a squibber the other way that got under the hand of a charging CJ Alexander. Jose Siri followed with a rope to center field. Thinking double the whole way, he raced into second as Kyle Isbel’s throw sailed nearly to the pitcher’s mound, giving Tampa Bay runners on second and third with one out. Singer came back with a beautiful sequence to Ben Rortvedt that ended with the catcher going down swinging. But with Taylor Walls down 2-2, an inside fastball got past Salvador Perez and to the backstop, allowing Palacios to score. Walls would walk on the tenth pitch of the plate appearance to extend the inning, but Yandy Díaz then grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second, on the Tampa Bay broadcast, Rays color commentator Brian Anderson was very complimentary of Kansas City, noting the excellent barbecue, natural beauty, and centrality of the city for travel purposes. He extolled the virtues of KC burnt ends as Michael Massey struck out on a fastball at neck-level. That was the fourth straight batter retired by Zack Littell, and it looked like he was on his way to six straight as MJ Melendez swung at a couple pitches in the right-handed batter’s box. But he managed to yank a low splitter into right field and hustle to second for a double. He was promptly picked off to end the inning — though Walls’s foot was blocking the bag, apparently that part isn’t reviewable. Through two scoreless innings, Littell threw 23 of his 27 pitches for strikes.
With storms bearing down on Kansas City, the game moved very quickly after the second inning. Singer and Littell pounded the strike zone and went after hitters who had no answers, with only one batter reaching base from the third through the middle of the fifth inning. The rain arrived at my apartment while Hunter Renfroe batted in the bottom of the fifth. The scent of ozone hit me as I watched Renfroe strike out on a slider well off the plate. The rain held off from the ballpark long enough for Melendez and Alexander to knock consecutive singles with two outs — the latter being Alexander’s first career big league hit — but Isbel struck out to end the inning. The tarp came out before the sixth inning could get underway.
Over two hours later, I reopened my laptop. The game would resume tonight after all. The delay meant Littell’s night was over, giving the Royals a crack at a Rays bullpen that has largely struggled this season. But first, the Rays got to bat against Kansas City’s pen. When the game resumed at 11 pm, they promptly plated a run when Palacios grounded a double between Vinnie Pasquantino’s legs and down the right field line, scoring Josh Lowe from first after he had grounded a single up the middle.
When Kevin Kelly entered in the bottom of the inning to pitch for Tampa Bay, it started raining again around my apartment. It appeared to still be raining some on the broadcast too, but that didn’t matter to Bobby Witt Jr., who yanked a sweeper down the left field line for his lucky 13th home run of the season. They didn’t get another baserunner in the inning, but the homer put the Royals on the board.
Chris Stratton took over for the seventh as the rainfall intensified. A friend of mine was at the game and estimated that 750 people were still in attendance by this time. Anyway, Stratton walked Walls, and Díaz grounded out before Stratton walked Brandon Lowe. Isaac Paredes then grounded one that somehow got past Alexander down the left field line. It got stuck on the ballboy’s stool, allowing Walls and Lowe to score and Paredes to cruise into second with a double that pushed Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-1.
The Rays didn’t score in the top of the eighth but the inning was very annoying so I’m leaving this paragraph in. Randy Arozarena singled on one of the ugliest swings you’ll ever see. Palacios, the greatest hitter of all time, then demonstrated remarkable bat control on an impromptu hit-and-run, knocking a groundball single through the hole vacated by Witt on a steal attempt. Palacios stole second to put two runners in scoring position, but Carlos Hernández rendered that moot by walking Rortvedt to load the bases. Hernández miraculously escaped the jam by getting Walls to pop up and Díaz to hit a soft liner to Melendez.
Jason Adam entered to pitch the eighth for the Rays. Adam has an absurdly short arm action and also his name is Jason Adam. I don’t have any actual commentary here I’m just tired and cranky. Evidently the Royals are too as they went down 1-2-3 on just ten pitches by Jason freaking Adam. I’m assuming they’ll go down in order in the ninth as well and if they do then cool, I don’t need to update this paragraph. It’s midnightish and the Royals lost 5-1. Who cares how the Rays scored that fifth run? Not you.
The loss drops Kansas City to 47-40. They will look to bounce back tomorrow in a game that may also be impacted by rain.
Brady Singer: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
Zack Littell: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
MJ Melendez: 3-3, 2B
Richie Palacios: 3-4, 2B, R, RBI
