Texas Bullpen Blows Lead Late, KC Escapes In Extras - kram438's Dynasty

kram438's Dynasty Blog

Texas Bullpen Blows Lead Late, KC Escapes In Extras

Posted on August 12, 2018 at 11:52 PM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A pitchers' duel broke out Saturday at Globe Life Park after two days of powerful offense, but it still ended with runs being scored in bunches, as the Kansas City Royals clinched a series victory with their third straight win over the host Texas Rangers, this time eeking out a 6-4 win in 13 innings.

The Rangers (6-12) turned the tables on the Royals (11-6) this time, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Adrian Beltre's fourth home run of the young season. And after the Royals tied the game by scoring in the third inning for the third straight game, Nomar Mazara put Texas back ahead with an RBI double to make it 2-1.

It stayed that way until the eighth inning when the Royals loaded the bases with no outs versus Rangers reliever Matt Bush. After an infield popup, Bush gave way to Texas closer Sam Dyson for a five-out save. He induced a shallow fly ball to left, but the runner tagged up anyway and *barely* beat the throw home to tie the game at 2-2. Then yet another 2-out run scored to give KC a 3-2 advantage, this one coming in the form of a pinch-hit, two-out, two-strike, opposite field, seeing-eye single by the worst player on the Royals' roster, backup catcher Brayan Pe�a.

The Rangers didn't lie down though, as Mazara led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple and tied the game on Jonathan Lucroy's RBI double to make it 3-3. But they would leave the winning run on third base in the ninth, an inning after they left the tying and go-ahead runs both in scoring position in the eighth.

Kansas City scored even another 2-out run in the 11th to go up 4-3 after Whit Merrifield's ball *barely* got under Rougned Odor's glove up the middle, but again the Rangers answered. Shin-Soo Choo doubled to the right-center field gap with two outs in the bottom of the 11th, scoring Robinson Chirinos all the way from first base to tie it again at 4-4.

The Royals finally put it to bed in the 13th with three consecutive one-out singles against Texas reliever Jeremy Jeffress (0-1), going up 5-4 before scoring their third 2-out run of the game on a wild pitch for insurance. Kansas City tied the game or took the lead on three different occasions with two-out runs.

The Rangers got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 13th with one out, but Mazara couldn't complete his cycle bid with the home run he needed, and Chirinos worked a 2-0 count before flying out to end the game. Beltre was also a triple short of the cycle in a breakout game for him, raising his batting average by nearly 30 points in just one game.

The Rangers, having lost four of their last five games and being outscored in the series 21-10 (and outhit 41-33) will try to avoid getting swept for the third time in this first month of the season and snap their current three-game losing streak. Andrew Cashner (1-1, 4.12 ERA) takes the mound against Ian Kennedy (2-1, 3.00 ERA).

Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers
Apr 22, 2017	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Extras	R	H	E
Kansas City (11-6)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0 1 0 2	6	14	0
Texas (6-12)	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0 1 0 0	4	11	0
W: Joakim Soria (1-0) L: Jeremy Jeffress (0-1)

Kansas City Royals
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Billy Burns, CF	7	0	1	0	0	1	0	.167
Paulo Orlando, RF	4	1	2	0	0	1	0	.266
Lorenzo Cain, PR-RF	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	.281
Eric Hosmer, 1B	7	1	2	1	0	1	0	.268
Jorge Soler, DH	6	0	2	0	0	3	0	.346
Alex Gordon, LF	5	0	0	0	1	3	0	.305
Salvador Perez, C	5	0	1	1	0	1	0	.233
Mike Moustakas, 3B	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.254
Brayan Pe�a, PH	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	.333
Cheslor Cuthbert, 3B	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	.435
Alcides Escobar, SS	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	.179
Whit Merrifield, 2B	6	0	2	2	0	1	0	.317
TEAM TOTALS	52	6	14	5	4	11	0
BATTING: 2B: Cuthbert (2), Orlando (5) RBI: Hosmer (17), Perez (9), Pe�a (1), Merrifield 2 (6) SF: Perez
BASERUNNING: SB: Cain (4), Burns (1)

Texas Rangers
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Elvis Andrus, SS	6	0	0	0	0	2	0	.287
Carlos Gomez, CF	6	0	1	0	0	1	0	.224
Adrian Beltre, 3B	6	2	3	1	0	0	1	.181
Rougned Odor, 2B	5	0	1	0	1	0	0	.365
Nomar Mazara, LF	6	1	3	1	0	1	0	.344
Jonathan Lucroy, C	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	.295
Delino DeShields Jr., PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.317
Robinson Chirinos, C	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.111
Shin-Soo Choo, RF	5	0	1	1	0	1	0	.328
James Loney, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Mike Napoli, PH-1B	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.212
Joey Gallo, DH	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.167
TEAM TOTALS	49	4	11	4	2	6	1
BATTING: 2B: Choo (5), Beltre (1), Lucroy (3), Mazara (2) 3B: Mazara (1) HR: Beltre (4) RBI: Choo (9), Beltre (6), Lucroy (3), Mazara (9)

Kansas City Royals
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Jason Hammel	6.1	4	2	2	2	5	1	3.22
Jason Vargas	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.12
Bobby Parnell (H, 4)	0.1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.45
Matt Strahm (H, 4)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.86
Kelvin Herrera (BS, 1)	2.0	2	1	1	0	0	0	2.00
Joakim Soria (W, 1-0)	3.0	3	1	1	0	0	0	1.29
TEAM TOTALS	13.0	11	4	4	2	6	1
PITCHING: WP: Strahm (1)

Texas Rangers
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Tyson Ross	5.0	5	1	1	2	4	0	3.16
Jake Diekman (H, 2)	2.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.00
Matt Bush (H, 3)	0.1	2	2	2	0	0	0	9.00
Sam Dyson (BS, 3)	3.0	2	1	1	0	3	0	4.38
Keone Kela	1.2	1	0	0	1	3	0	5.19
Jeremy Jeffress (L, 0-1)	1.0	4	2	2	1	1	0	6.75
TEAM TOTALS	13.0	14	6	6	4	11	0
PITCHING: WP: Jeffress (1)