12 straight games scoring four or fewer runs.
The Kansas City Royals once again struggled offensively, managing just one extra-base hit in a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.
Kansas City wasted no time against Clarke Schmidt in his first major league start of the season. Bobby Witt Jr. roped a single before Vinnie Pasquantino walked on five pitches. On 1-0, Salvador Perez got a backup sweeper and yanked it into left field to score Witt. They had a chance for a big inning with two runners on and one out, but Maikel Garcia just missed a hanging breaking ball and MJ Melendez struck out to end the inning.
Kris Bubic immediately got into trouble in the bottom of the first by walking Paul Goldschmidt to lead off the frame. Cody Bellinger hit a potential double-play grounder, but Goldschmidt shrewdly ran well inside the bag to make for a harder throw. The Royals only got one out on the play. Two batters later, Bellinger was at third base after a grounder found a hole and a bloop fell in to load the bases. But Bubic escaped, striking out Anthony Volpe on four pitches and getting Austin Wells on a flyout.
In the bottom of the third, New York broke through. With two outs, Aaron Judge ripped a double and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked on five pitches. Volpe was up next and he yanked a high fastball down the left field line that one-hopped the wall. Judge and Chisholm both scored easily to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. The inning could have been even worse, but Isbel made a sensational diving catch going back on a ball to take extra bases from Wells.
The fourth saw the Yankees piece together another two out rally with consecutive singles by Oswald Peraza and Goldschmidt. Bellinger then grounded one just past Pasquantino down the first base line. It kicked off a wall and back toward the infield, giving Bellinger a double but forcing Goldschmidt to stop at third base. With the Yankees now up 3-1, Matt Quatraro elected to intentionally walk Judge, who already had two hits in the game, to load the bases. The gambit paid off as Chisholm flew out to end the inning.
On the other side, Schmidt settled in after his rocky first inning. After Perez’s first inning single, he retired 11 straight Royals before Drew Waters led off the fifth inning with a single. Two batters later, Isbel laced a ball into the right-center gap that got past the outfielders and all the way to the wall. He had hit it to the deepest part of the park, allowing Waters to score easily and Isbel to slide into third with a triple. Jonathan India followed with a grounder to the shortstop, who was playing back. Isbel cruised home, with New York trading the run for an out. Witt flew out to end the inning, but the game was tied at three.
Still tied through the seventh inning stretch, Judge led off the bottom of the inning against John Schreiber. The 1-0 pitch was a middle-middle sinker and Judge didn’t miss it, crushing it into the Yankees bullpen to give New York a 4-3 lead. Schreiber was replaced by Daniel Lynch IV, who hit Chisholm with the first pitch he threw. Lynch managed to get through the rest of the inning without incident.
From inning six through eight, Kansas City managed just one baserunner. They still trailed 4-3 entering the ninth inning. Pasquantino started things by ripping a single past Goldschmidt, putting the tying run on base. Biggio was summoned to pinch-run. That ended up not mattering as Perez promptly grounded into a double play. Garcia walked to keep the inning alive and scampered to second when Fernando Cruz spiked his first pitch to Melendez. To this point, Melendez was 0-3 with three K’s. He managed to get the bat on the ball this time, lining it to right field, but Bellinger made a terrific diving catch to take away extra bases and end the game.
The loss drops Kansas City to 8-11. They will head to Detroit for a four-game set against the Tigers that begins tomorrow evening.
Kris Bubic: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
Clarke Schmidt: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Kyle Isbel: 1-3, 3B, R, RBI
Aaron Judge: 3-3, HR, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB