Sloppy execution results in a lifeless loss
Errant plays in field, lackluster hitting allow Kansas City to pull out 2nd consecutive win
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi sent a one-out chopper into the infield. A routine baseball play began but never resolved itself. Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel raced to his right to snag it and then turned toward his abandoned post.
There was one problem: For the second time in two innings, nobody was covering first base for Houston. Benintendi stood alone on the bag as the Kansas City crowd bellowed its support.
More mistakes and bad luck followed. Martín Maldonado’s attempt to throw Benintendi out at second base was botched when umpires determined Framber Valdez’s pitch had hit the batter, giving the Royals two runners with one out. Both scored on Hanser Alberto’s twoout double, breaking open a tie
game in the sixth inning.
A string of miscues doomed the Astros to a 3-1 loss Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, ending their chances of a four-game series vic
tory with a second straight defeat.
Valdez’s relatively efficient start was sullied by untimely defensive errors. He threw 99 pitches over 62⁄3 innings, yielding nine hits, three earned runs with one walk and five strikeouts.
Royals rookie starter Daniel Lynch spun seven excellent innings of one-run ball. The Astros managed just four hits against him and struck out five times.
Through the first two innings, all five balls the Astros put in play against Lynch were hard-hit. Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa went down in order on three ground balls with exit velocities of at least 103.7 mph. In the second inning, Aledmys Díaz’s leadoff walk was erased when Gurriel grounded into a double play. Chas McCormick doubled off the center-field wall, his first extra-base hit of the road trip but was stranded when Taylor Jones struck out swinging.
Houston finally got on the board in the top of the third — but also made its first crucial mistake. Jake Meyers worked a full count and doubled to center field before Maldonado drew a walk following a seven-pitch at-bat. Altuve’s groundout advanced the runners to second and third. Brantley struck out. Correa looped a single into shallow center field, scoring Meyers, but the Astros ambitiously sent Maldonado and Royals outfielder Michael A. Taylor threw him out at the plate.
Valdez struck out four Royals on 31 pitches through three innings
before giving up his first run in the fourth. Benintendo shot a one-out single through the right-side gap. Valdez got down 3-0 in the count against Hunter Dozier but recovered to strike him out swinging. Taylor, whose outfield cannon an inning earlier had saved the Royals a run, tied the game on a two-out double.
With one out in the fifth inning, a miscommunication by the Astros allowed Nicky Lopez to reach as both Valdez and Gurriel went for his ground ball, leaving no one to cover first base. Lopez advanced to second on Whit Merrifield’s groundout. He took another
base when Valdez and Maldonado appeared to get their wires crossed as the catcher looked unprepared for a pitch and let it slip past him. Altuve saved a run with a well-executed play on Carlos Santana’s ground ball, but it was clear the defensive waters were as muddied as Buffalo Bayou.
With Benintendi already aboard in the sixth inning,Valdez hit Dozier with a pitch on an 0-2 count. Alberto drove both runners home with a double ripped down the left-field line for a 3-1 Royals lead.
Valdez gave up a one-out single to Merrifield in the seventh but then picked him off first base. The lefty then issued his first walk of the night to Santana with his 99th pitch. It would be his final one. Pedro Báez entered and induced a popout on his first pitch.
In a bright spot for the Houston staff, Báez retired all four batters he faced in his second appearance of the season. It was futile, however, as the Astros went hitless for the final four innings and finished 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.