Kansas City Royals Middle Relievers Fail to Hold Lead; Lose Game 4

Oct 25, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher

Jason Frasor

reacts after giving up a run to the San Francisco Giants in the fifth inning during game four of the 2014 World Series at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

After an epic meltdown from the Kansas City middle relievers Jason Frasor, Danny Duffy, Brandon Finnegan, and Tim Collins; the Kansas City Royals blew a 4-1 lead to lose 11-4. The World Series is now tied at 2 games apiece.

More from Kansas City Royals

The bullpen failed for the first time since the Wild Card game against the Oakland A’s. The Royals poor defense and middle relief were so bad, they had to remind Royals fans of the 100-loss teams of the 2000’s rather than the 2014 team that swept its way to the World Series.

Not only did every middle reliever fail, relief pitcher Tim Collins threw away a sacrifice bunt to set up the Giants 4-run 7th.

On the Mound

Jason Vargas only gave Royals manager Ned Yost 4.0 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 walks, and 3 earned runs with 3 strikeouts. Vargas pitched into the 5th, giving up a leadoff double. He left the game with the Royals up 4-2.

Jason Frasor relieved Vargas and got Buster Posey on a grounder to short, that advanced the runner to 3rd. Then Hunter Pence singled to short against a drawn-in infield to put the Giants behind by 1 run.

Danny Duffy relieved Frasor and allowed a single to Pablo Sandoval, allowing Pence to advance to 3rd. Brandon Belt walked to load the bases before Juan Perez hit a dying quail to center that Jarrod Dyson caught with a dive. The play allowed Pence to tag up and score to tie the game. Duffy ended the inning with a strikeout.

Brandon Finnegan entered in the 6th and gave up 2 singles to open the inning to put runners and 1st and 2nd. Joe Panik sacrificed the runners to 2nd and 3rd, then the Royals issued an intentional walk to Buster Posey. Pence then grounded into a force at home plate, but Pablo Sandoval singled on the first pitch to score 2 runs, followed Brandon Belt who singled home the 3rd run of the inning to put the Giants up 7-4.

Finnegan continued into the 8th, allowing a single to the leadoff hitter, and following it with a walk before he was relieved by Tim Collins.

Collins entered in the 7th, and continued to wet the bed by giving up 4 more runs as the Kansas City middle relievers choked away the game. Collins did get through the 8th inning to allow the Royals big 3 relievers Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Greg Holland to rest.

At the Plate

The Giants took the lead without getting a hit in the 1st inning by scratching out a single run.

The Royals responded by scoring 4 runs in the top of the 3rd. Escobar started the inning with a single, but was out at second on Alex Gordon‘s fielder’s choice. Cain then hit an infield single to short, to put runners and 1st and 2nd. Mike Moustakas walked to load the bases, followed by Omar Infante who stroked a single to center to score 2 runs. Salvador Perez then singled to center to drive in the 4th run of the inning to put Kansas City up 4-1.

The Royals failed to score the rest of the game.

This and That

11 different Giants had hits in the game.

Pitcher Yusmeiro Petit became the first pitcher to get a hit in the World Series since 1993.

What a pathetic performance by the Kansas City “bridge” to HDH, who blew a 3-run lead that would have put Kansas City up 3 games to 1 in the World Series.

The no. 9 spot in the Giants order put up 3 hits and 1 walk.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Josh Willingham is our KC Kingdom Player of the Game. You might notice from the box score that Willingham did not play in the game. He gets our nod because no Royal who participated in this debacle deserves to be honored. Throwing away a critical game when the Royals were poised to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series is a painful failure that could cost the Royals the title.

Up Next

The Royals and Giants will play game 5 of the World Series in San Francisco. James Shields (14-10, 3.21 ERA) will pitch for Kansas City, while the Giants will counter with Madison Bumgarner (18-10, 2.98 ERA). Game time is 7:07 PM CST at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Home/Kansas City Royals