After a heartbreaking loss in extra innings Tuesday night, the Royals shot back and earned a split with a 5-4 victory over Cincinnati.
Kansas City benefited from poor defense at the top of the first inning. After Whit Merrifield left the game with a double to right center field, Salvador Perez drove him home on a ground that was thrown wildly on the plate. Despite loading the bases with one out, however, the Royals could not add.
In his second start of the year, Brad Keller hit the record for his first career matchup with the Reds. But in his first inning of the job, his rhythm was stunted by a 17-minute delay from injury to broadcaster Chris Conroy. Conroy was removed with a fractured ring finger from behind home plate. He later returned to the creator on third base.
At the top of the third, the Royals gave more assurance to Keller. Perez, who came in red-hot, beat a solo home team in the second row sitting in field left center to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead. It was Perez’s fourth home game of the 2020 campaign.
As it happened, Keller needed no more than the one run the Royals gave him. The right-hander continued to support Reds hitters through the first three innings of the work. Merrifield pushed the lead to 3-0 on a sacrificial fly at the top of the fourth.
In the ensuing inning, the most unfortunate baseball hitmaker, Ryan O’Hearn, loaded a ball to the center field wall with the bases loaded. But the Royals’ first baseman missed a big slam by inches, as Nick Senzel robbed it with an unbelievable catch. However, it turned around in a run on another sacrificial flight to make it 4-0.
Keller ended his night with six scoreless innings of work and could only allow two singles. The right-hander has not allowed a run in 11 straight innings to start the season. With a 5-0 lead at the bottom of the seventh, the game slipped almost away from the Royals.
The first man out of the Kansas City bullpen was Ian Kennedy. Kennedy, however, allowed three runs after the first three fights he faced. Jesse Winker and Freddy Glavis were able to blow two pitches into the right field bleachers. Mike Matheny had not included Scott Barlow in the game for outs. Although Barlow was not greeted nicely by Josh VanMeter. Sporting a .000 average in 16 at-bats, VanMeter hit Cincinnati’s third home run from the inning to cut the lead to 5-4. The Royals managed to escape the frame to the one-run lead.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Josh Staumont worked out rounds to first and second with one out. He grabbed three in the inning – all with the curveball. Trevor Rosenthal soared through the ninth through a game-ending double play from former Royal Christian Colon. The win broke the Kansas City record to 8-11.
After the off-day on Thursday, the Royals will travel to Minnesota for a four-game series with the Twins. Jakob Junis will be off square Friday night with Jake Odorizzi. First pitch is scheduled for 19:10 CDT.
