Kansas City Royals Fall To Detroit Tigers In the 10th
By Joel Wagler
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Jason Vargas (51) Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Two games into the 2014 season for the Kansas City Royals, and two painful losses to the Detroit Tigers. Of course, the Tigers are also the team the Royals are going to be chasing all season, so these losses have even more sting to them.
The Royals continue to struggle early at the plate, and they wasted some terrific pitching. After just two games, they are already searching for answers.
On the Mound
Jason Vargas made his Royals debut Wednesday, and he pitched very well. He really made one mistake on the afternoon, serving up a home run ball to Ian Kinsler. On the day, Vargas went 7 strong frames, giving up just 5 hits, while striking out 6, and walking just 1. Kinsler’s homer was the only run he surrendered.
Kelvin Herrera each threw a perfect inning in relief, each striking out 1 batter. Tim Collins came on in the bottom of the 10th but walked the first hitter. After a sacrifice that moved the runner to second, Collins walked another hitter, retired Monday’s hero Alex Gonzalez, but allowed Ian Kinsler to punch one into the gap. Game over.
At the Plate
As bad as things were on Monday, they were worse on Wednesday. The Royals scraped together just 6 hits in 10 innings, while coaxing just 3 walks. The only extra base hit was Salvador Perez‘ third double.
Lead off hitter Norichika Aoki, acquired for his skill at getting on base, went 0-4, with a walk, and is now 0-9 on the season. Omar Infante managed his first 2 hits for the Royals.
Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar both remain hitless on the season, and Billy Butler hit into two double plays in his first two at bats. Butler has led the majors in hitting into double plays twice.
This and That
The Royals now have 13 hits and 4 runs in 19 innings.
After going 1-9 with runners in scoring position on Monday, the Royals were a brutal 0-7 on Wednesday. So far, the things that the Royals struggled with last year offensively, are continuing in 2014.
KC Kingdom Player of the Game
With his stellar performance in his Kansas City Royals debut, Jason Vargas takes home the KC Kingdom Player of the Game. He looked very strong throughout his performance, and hopefully will continue to do so going forward.
- Salvador Perez
- Jason Vargas
The Tigers
Kinsler was the hero for Detroit on Wednesday, driving in both Tiger runs. He was 3-5 on the day.
Max Scherzer looked like the defending AL Cy Young Award winner, going 8 scoreless innings, allowing just 4 hits, while striking out 7, and walking just one.
Up Next
Yordano Ventura will take the bump for the Kansas City Royals, dueling against Anibal Sanchez for the Tigers at 12:08 on Thursday.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norichika Aoki RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .100 |
| Omar Infante 2B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .583 |
| Pedro Ciriaco PR-2B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Eric Hosmer 1B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .286 | .804 |
| Billy Butler DH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .143 | .393 |
| Justin Maxwell PR-DH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Alex Gordon LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .167 | .417 |
| Salvador Perez C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .714 | 1.857 |
| Jarrod Dyson PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Brett Hayes C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Mike Moustakas 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 |
| Lorenzo Cain CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .500 |
| Alcides Escobar SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .125 |
| Team Totals | 33 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 7 | .182 | .455 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
2B: S Perez (3, off M Scherzer).
SF: A Gordon (1, off J Nathan).
TB: S Perez 2; O Infante 2; A Gordon; E Hosmer; L Cain.
GIDP: B Butler (1).
RBI: A Gordon (1).
Team LOB: 6.
With RISP: 0 for 7.
Baserunning
SB: P Ciriaco (1, 2nd base off J Nathan/A Avila); L Cain (1, 2nd base off A Alburquerque/A Avila).
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ian Kinsler 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .333 | 1.000 |
| Tyler Collins LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 |
| Miguel Cabrera 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .143 | .536 |
| Victor Martinez DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .875 |
| Torii Hunter RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Austin Jackson CF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .286 | 1.089 |
| Alex Avila C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .250 | .821 |
| Nick Castellanos 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .286 | .661 |
| Alex Gonzalez SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .375 | 1.000 |
| Team Totals | 33 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 8 | .182 | .553 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
2B: A Jackson (1, off J Vargas).
HR: I Kinsler (1, off J Vargas; 4th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF-CF).
SH: A Avila (1, off T Collins).
TB: I Kinsler 6; A Jackson 2; A Gonzalez; V Martinez.
RBI: I Kinsler 2 (2).
2-out RBI: I Kinsler.
Team LOB: 6.
With RISP: 1 for 7.
Fielding
DP: 2. M Cabrera; A Gonzalez-I Kinsler-M Cabrera.
Baserunning
CS: A Avila (1, 2nd base by J Vargas/S Perez).
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | GB | FB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Vargas | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1.29 | 26 | 106 | 6 | 13 |
| Kelvin Herrera | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 2 |
| Wade Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.86 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 1 |
| Tim Collins, L (0-1) | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 5 | 20 | 1 | 2 |
| Team Totals | 9.2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1.86 | 37 | 158 | 8 | 18 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | GB | FB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Scherzer | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.00 | 27 | 110 | 6 | 13 |
| Joe Nathan, BS (1) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 6 | 22 | 2 | 2 |
| Al Alburquerque, W (1-0) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 2 |
| Team Totals | 10 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.90 | 37 | 144 | 10 | 17 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
(Special Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for the box score.)