Astros’ late comeback falls short in 7-6 loss to Royals.
K.C. gets more from nearly nonstop traffic jams on bases
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here at last, on this clearskied Midwestern night, was the offense the Astros had searched for the last couple of weeks. Jose Altuve emerged from his miniature slump. Carlos Correa, Aledmys Díaz and Jason Castro homered. Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez delivered timely hits.
And yet the Astros were outdueled by the Royals in a slugfest and on the basepaths, resulting in a 7-6 loss in Monday’s series opener at Kauffman Stadium.
The game was tied four times before Salvador Perez stuck the final dagger in Houston’s back with a twoRBI hit in the eighth inning.
Kansas City tagged Houston starter Jake Odorizzi for four earned runs over 51⁄3 innings. Odorizzi threw 89 pitches and struck out two batters while surrendering eight hits, one home run and two walks.
Although the Astros were able to cut down two early runs at home plate, they could not consistently manage the steady stream of traffic on the bases. Two days after the Angels ran on Astros catcher Jason Castro for three stolen bases, the
Royals stole four bases, a season high for an Astros opponent. On the flip side, Houston’s offense racked up two outs on the bases and hit into a double play.
It took four at-bats, two hits and 16 pitches for the Astros to score in the first inning. Altuve snapped an 0-for-7 drought with a firstpitch leadoff double. Alvarez’s two-out RBI single drove in Altuve for a 1-0 lead.
Odorizzi threw 16 pitches in the bottom of the first inning and managed to keep a clean sheet despite allowing a runner to third base. Whit Merrifield led off with a sharply hit ball down the right-field line. First baseman Yuli Gurriel made a diving stop in the dirt and flipped it to Odorizzi, but the pitcher dropped the ball with his foot on the bag and Merrifield was safe. Merrifield stole second base, then advanced to third on Nicky Lopez’s sacrifice bunt. Perez reached on a fielder’s choice ground ball, but Correa threw home and Castro had plenty of time to tag Merrifield at the plate. Odorizzi finished the inning by striking out Carlos Santana.
The Royals didn't hit a ball out of the infield in the first inning, but in the second inning smashed three hard-hit balls off Odorizzi and scored two runs. After Andrew Benintendi’s leadoff single to right field, Ryan O’Hearn doubled on a line drive the opposite way. Benintendi easily scored to tie the game, and a subsequent sacrifice bunt moved O’Hearn to third base. Though Hunter Dozier reached on a ground ball dribbled six feet in front of the plate, Odorizzi made the play to Castro to tag O’Hearn out at home — the second run Houston cut down at the plate while playing with a drawn-in infield.
The Royals weren’t done, however, as Emmanuel Rivera singled to advance Dozier to second. Merrifield dropped a base hit into shallow center field and another run crossed the plate. With runners on the corners, Odorizzi induced a fly ball for the final out.
After the Astros went down in order in the second and third innings, Odorizzi issued back-to-back walks to Perez and Santana to begin the bottom of the third. Perez advanced to third base on a flyout and then scored on O’Hearn’s RBI single, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. Odorizzi was able to procure two more outs without further damage.
Odorizzi was fortunate to allow only three earned runs through three innings considering how he struggled to locate pitches in the zone. He threw 36 of his 62 pitches for strikes as the Royals scattered six hits against him and drew two walks in that span.
The righthander stabilized briefly with a fivepitch fourth inning that saw him retire the Royals in order. In the top of the fifth, Díaz smoked a leadoff homer 106 mph off the bat into the visitors’ bullpen in left field, his first home run of the month and seventh of the season, trimming the Astros’ deficit to 3-2. After Jake Meyers was hit by a pitch, Altuve and Brantley delivered consecutive twoout singles, Brantley’s scoring Meyers to make it a tie game once again. But Brantley then got picked off at first base to end the frame, preventing Correa from attempting to drive in a goahead run.
Correa did it anyway the following inning. The shortstop gave Houston a 4-3 advantage when he drove Carlos Hernandez’s first pitch 430 feet to left field. The next three Astros went down in order behind him. Their second lead of the game was short-lived.
With one out in the top of the sixth, Dozier hammered a first-pitch home run to tie the game yet again. Odorizzi gave up the ball to Phil Maton, who coaxed outs from the next two batters.
Ryne Stanek, who entered Monday with a 1.65 ERA in his last 18 appearances, immediately got into trouble when he issued a leadoff walk to Lopez in the seventh inning. Lopez proceeded to steal second base, then third. He trotted home on Santana’s single for a 5-4 Royals lead. Stanek escaped despite putting another runner on in a hit-bypitch situation.
Houston tied it once more in the eighth inning. Taylor Jones, pinch-hitting for Alvarez, hit a one-out double through the left side. (Manager Dusty Baker later said Alvarez exited with an upset stomach). One out later, Diaz knocked in Jones with a line drive single, but he was tagged out heading to second base, stymieing the Astros’ progress.
In the bottom of the inning, Astros reliever Yimi Garcia struck out the first two batters he faced before Merrifield and Lopez hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Lopez snuck to second base, the Royals’ fourth stolen base of the night, and Perez broke the deadlock with a two-RBI single.
Castro’s last-gasp solo blast in the top of the ninth evened the hit count at 12 for each team but was not enough to pull the Astros even in the runs column.