The bullpen stunk, but it’s not their fault the offense couldn’t cobble together runs.
The Kansas City Royals forced me to stay up later than I would prefer just to put on a lifeless display offensively en route to dropping a series to a trash Oakland A’s team with a 5-1 loss tonight.
Cole Ragans did not have his best command early, frequently missing to both sides of the plate with non-competitive pitches. He worked around baserunners in the first two innings, but Oakland broke through in the third. Ragans walked Max Schuemann and JJ Bleday to start the inning, throwing only two pitches in the zone in the process. Miguel Andujar then slashed a letter-high outside fastball down the right field line to bring home Schuemann. Brent Rooker followed that up by lacing a pretty good changeup out to left to score Bleday. Ragans managed to recover, striking out Tyler Nevin and then rolling up a double play to end the inning, but Oakland led 2-0.
The Royals, meanwhile, had plenty of baserunners but couldn’t make anything of them. Bobby Witt Jr. hit an infield single in the first and was stranded there. Nick Loftin doubled with one out in the second and advanced no further. Kyle Isbel knocked a leadoff single in the third before the next three hitters went down in order. The fourth was particularly painful. Salvador Perez looked like he had a leadoff double when he rocked a ball off the left field wall, but he was gunned down at second by Andujar. MJ Melendez then reached on a single, watched as Loftin struck out on a breaking ball several feet in front of the plate, then walked back to the dugout after Adam Frazier grounded out to end the inning. Five hits through the first four innings led to zero runs for Kansas City.
They finally managed to score in the fifth. Nelson Velázquez led off the inning with a walk. It looked like he would once again be stuck there after Isbel lined out and Maikel Garcia took a meatball of a breaker for strike three. But Witt came through by yanking a slider down the line to trade places with Velázquez, who had reached second on a wild pitch. Ragans followed that up with his first 1-2-3 inning of the night, aided by slick play at third by Garcia for the second out.
By the seventh, the game had become a battle of the bullpens, which is not the type of battle that Kansas City is equipped for. True to form, John Schrieber entered the game and surrendered two walks and three knocks, pushing Oakland’s lead to 4-1. He was pulled after his second walk loaded the bases with two outs. Dan Altavilla managed to prevent further damage.
The Royals had a shot at a rally in the eighth when Pasquantino roped a double to right with one out. But Perez was absolutely helpless against Austin Adams’s slider in a four pitch strikeout and Melendez went down looking on a slightly generous called strike away. In case the lead wasn’t big enough yet for Oakland, Zack Gelof hit a nuke to straightaway center in the ninth to make it 5-1. Altavilla walked the next batter and he appeared to tweak something on his follow through. He was promptly pulled and replaced by Chris Stratton. He got out of the inning, but it should come as no surprise to anybody that the Royals were unable to score against Mason Miller in the ninth as he secured the 5-1 win for Oakland.
The loss drops Kansas City to 41-34, knocking them a half game behind Minnesota in the AL Central standings. This is the team’s third straight series loss. The A’s hadn’t won consecutive games or a series since early May. The Royals will look to salvage the third game of the set tomorrow afternoon in Oakland.
Cole Ragans: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 0 HR
Luis Medina: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
Bobby Witt Jr.: 2-4, 2B, RBI
Miguel Andujar: 3-5, R, RBI
