An absolutely maddening defeat.
A low-scoring game ended in heartbreak for the Kansas City Royals as they fell 4-3 in an 11-inning skirmish with the New York Yankees.
The Royals threatened immediately against Luis Gil. Bobby Witt Jr. lined a ball into the left-center gap that would have been a single for 99% of players, but Witt it turned into a double with his speed. Gil followed that by throwing nine straight balls, walking Salvador Perez and MJ Melendez and throwing ball one to Freddy Fermin before finally finding the zone. The Royals were unable to capitalize on the bases loaded with one out, however, as Fermin worked the count full before swinging through a very hittable slider and Michael Massey grounded out on the first pitch he saw to end the inning.
The game started moving along after the top of the first as Gil found his command, while Cole Ragans had his command from the jump. The Royals starter sliced through New York’s lineup, allowing just one baserunner the first time through the order. It wasn’t until the fourth inning when somebody broke the stalemate. With one out in the top of the frame, Massey battled back from 1-2, fouling off pitches until he got a fastball that he could handle, yanking it over the short porch in right field for a solo homer.
With a 1-0 lead in tow, Ragans was in complete control. For the first five innings, the only baserunner to reach second base was Alex Verdugo. He didn’t do so safely, however — after lacing a ball off the wall in right, he tried for two, but was gunned down on an excellent throw from Tommy Pham and equally impressive tag by Witt. In the following inning, having thrown 97 pitches, Gil gave way to old friend Tim Hill and the Yankees bullpen.
The 1-0 lead would prove insufficient when the top of New York’s order came up for the third time. Gleyber Torres walked with one out. Juan Soto fouled a ball off the top of his foot and appeared in immense pain, bringing out the trainer. He hobbled back into the box and, two pitches later, crushed a hanging curve for a go-ahead two-run shot. Ragans would end up needing 34 pitches to finish the sixth inning, leaving the mound with Kansas City trailing 2-1.
The Royals were poised to take the lead right back in the seventh when Kyle Isbel and Tommy Pham singled off erstwhile Yankees closer Clay Holmes, bringing Witt to the dish with two runners on and nobody out. He smoked a line drive to right, but directly at Soto for the first out. It did move Isbel to third, giving Perez a chance with runners at the corners. He made good on it, hitting a flyball deep enough into left-center to score Isbel and tie the game.
With Ragans at 100 pitches, Matt Quatraro turned to the bullpen in the seventh, which quickly got very interesting. Well, after Verdugo grounded out against Sam Long to lead off the inning anyway. Anthony Volpe hit a blooper into center that Isbel briefly considered diving for but pulled up to keep Volpe to a single. Long then walked Anthony Rizzo on four pitches, bringing up Jose Trevino. He hit a tapper towards first base that Perez came in to field. He scooped up the ball and attempted to tag Trevino, who went quite a ways to the right of the baseline to dodge the tag. The umpire called safe and Volpe smelled opportunity, rounding third and attempting to score. But Perez was not fooled, turning and firing a bullet to first base. Fermin put on the tag to prevent the go-ahead run. Quatraro came out to argue the play. Upon review, it turned out Perez had actually tagged Trevino, giving Kansas City a very odd 3-2 inning-ending double play.
The eighth and ninth innings were scoreless innings by both Lucas Erceg on the mound and Kansas City’s lineup at the plate, sending the game to extras. Tommy Pham, who was picked off first base to end the ninth, was the zombie runner at second to start the tenth. He would’ve been, anyway, but Dairon Blanco entered to pinch-run for him. Witt struck out to lead off the inning. With Perez batting, Blanco swiped second. Perez wouldn’t end up needing to do anything though as Yankees reliever Jake Cousins spiked a slider that got away from Trevino, allowing Blanco to score easily. Perez would walk on four pitches, reaching base for the eighth time in this series. Both teams would then make a switch, with Garrett Hampson pinch-running for Perez and old friend Luke Weaver taking the mound for New York. Melendez and Fermin would be retired, sending the game to the bottom of the tenth with Kansas City clinging to a 3-2 lead.
Kris Bubic was tasked with protecting the lead. Oswaldo Cabrera led off the inning and attempted a bunt. He popped it up towards third base and Bubic almost made a fantastic play to catch it, but came up short, forcing Maikel Garcia to throw to first and allow Volpe to move to third. Austin Wells hit a flyball shallow down the left field line, giving Melendez a chance for a play at the plate. It was a pretty lousy throw, three-hopping down the third base line and allowing Volpe to score easily and tie the game. On to the 11th.
The Royals only managed one run in the tenth with the heart of the order, so it should come as no surprise that the 6-7-8 hitters went down in order. Bubic remained in the game with the task to pitch a scoreless inning. They decided to pitch to Soto leading off the inning and he hit a grounder to second that moved the winning run to third base. Quatraro then elected to send Aaron Judge to first base, setting up a double play and bringing the lefty-swinging Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the plate. Judge stole second, at which point they should have walked Chisholm to give them a force at any base. They didn’t, and Chisholm hit a grounder that Witt laid out to glove. He threw home but it was offline, scoring the winning run for New York. I could write many words about the way this inning was handled but who fucking cares, Yankees win.
The loss drops Kansas City to 80-67. The division is pretty much out of reach at this point and the lead over Minnesota for the third wild card is now just 1.5 games. The Royals will get the day off tomorrow before heading to Pittsburgh for a weekend series.
Cole Ragans: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
Luis Gil: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Tommy Pham: 3-4, BB
Juan Soto: 1-5, HR, R, 2 RBI
