That game was NOT how you overcome the bad vibes of a losing streak. The Royals were one strike away from a win, from ending this misery. They could not make it happen despite having all the opportunities in the world.
The Orioles did not reach third base until the ninth inning. They did not hold a lead until the 11th inning. The Royals left a bajillion guys on base. You wouldn’t guess that from just looking at the final score. The Orioles did NOTHING for the first eight innings. But luckily for them, it doesn’t matter, exactly, when you score, or how many baserunners you have, as long as you have more runs than the other team when the last guy finishes hitting. Only one team was capable of that tonight.
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Despite their five-run offensive output, most of which came in extras, the Royals had tons of opportunities for more. They EASILY could have put this game away in regular time. They should have!
In the bottom of the first inning, the Royals loaded the bases with only one out, Carter Jensen up to bat. He hit into a double play to end the threat. In the second inning, they added two singles after Jac’s home run but got nothing else. In the third inning, they loaded the bases again, this time with no outs. Michael Massey hit a comebacker to the pitcher, who got the force at home. Two strikeouts ended that threat. In the sixth, they again loaded the bases and got nothing. Runners at first and second in the 7th, again nothing.
In the 10th inning, with the added advantage of starting with a guy on second base with no outs, the Royals still found a way to squander it. After a Nick Loftin walk, Cags hit a routine fly ball to center field. Lane Thomas was the extra inning runner, and he tagged up as normal. The throw got by the third baseman, and Thomas decided to take off for third. The Orioles defense recovered and tagged him out on the slide. Isaac Collins grounded out to end that nonsense.
The Royals plated their second run in the bottom of the 11th with their life on the line. Kyle Isbel finally put down the bunt he had been trying to put down all game to move the Manfred Man, Collins, from second to third. Down to the last strike, Bobby Witt Jr managed a single to bring him in and tie the game. It still seemed harder than it should have been.
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It took until the 12th inning for the Royals to actually do something with the bases loaded. A single and a walk loaded the bases for Nick Loftin, who pulled a grounder past the diving third baseman for a double. All three runners scored. Too little, too late.
The Royals went 5-for-21 (!!!!) with runners in scoring position and left 16 (!!!!) on base. Orioles starter Kyle Bradish allowed 10 hits and 3 walks in 5 and 1/3 innings! And yet, somehow, the only run he gave up was Cags’ solo homer.
Speaking of Jac’s homer – hoo wee. This was one of the few positives of the game, so let me talk about it for a bit. Jac sent that ball into next week. Bradish had a clear plan to go after Cags – backdoor breaking pitches. Cags managed to lay off a bunch of them, but not completely, throughout the game. For whatever reason, Bradish abandoned that plan for one pitch and left a fastball up and over the plate. Cags put a murderous swing on that ball and hit it 437 feet beyond the center field wall. Beautiful. I hope to see many years of those things. Worth noting – Cags laid off the breaking junk in his third plate appearance against Bradish and walked.
But back to the rest of the game – it was pretty frustrating to watch that offensive performance, gotta be honest. They just kept stalling out over and over again. It wasn’t any one thing either, to me. They had bloops, blasts, help from the Orioles defense, and more. The Orioles did everything in their power to give up 10 runs in the first nine innings of the game, not 1. The Royals *have* to take advantage of these opportunities as the season goes on.
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The Royals pitchers, up until the dang ninth inning, did their part. Seth Lugo absolutely carved up the Orioles hitters over seven complete innings. He walked four guys in those seven innings, but he gave up only one hit, which was after a pickoff in the first inning. Lugo finished with seven strikeouts in a kitchen-sink-type outing. He was great. Matt Strahm followed by striking out the side in the eighth. He got a borderline ball overturned in his favor when Jensen challenged – it was about as close as it gets to a ball while still being called a strike. Like I mentioned before, through 8 innings, the Orioles had never touched third base.
Too bad Erceg couldn’t throw strikes in the ninth and blew it. He walked Gunnar Henderson and managed to pick him off (like Lugo did earlier). Then he walked Taylor Ward. He got a forceout to put the situation at two outs and a man on first, with Pete Alonso up. Erceg induced a couple check swings from Alonso, but alas none was called a swing. I guess you can argue all you want about the check swing calls. I don’t know. Felt like the Royals should have won the game before that!
Alonso walked. Jensen called for an ABS challenge against Basallo, the next hitter, but failed. Erceg put a fastball down the pipe that Basallo smacked into the gap to bring in the first Orioles run of the game (and the first time any Oriole touched third), which felt like it ended the Royals hopes for a win because the rest of the bullpen could not keep it together. Daniel Lynch IV did his job but was pulled after 12 pitches. Schreiber and Lange unraveled from there, including the dang 12th inning grand slam.
Look, this was terrible. The morale will not improve tonight. The vibes will not improve tonight. The hole is deeper. The Orioles and Royals will play again tomorrow. Eat Arby’s.
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