Jarrod Dyson’s Botched Steal spoils Royals Rally
By John Viril

. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
The Kansas City Royals dropped their 2nd straight game to the Tigers, falling 4-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit on Tuesday night. Jarrod Dyson got picked off by closer Joe Nathan while attempting a double steal with fellow pinch runner Terrance Gore that killed a Royals 9th inning rally.
Max Scherzer held the Royals to 1 run over 6.2 innings, despite allowing 7 hits and 4 walks. Scherzer earned his 16th win of the season (16-5) in a critical showdown with the Royals.
The loss drops Kansas City to 15 games over .500 at 79-64. Detroit has now caught Kansas City for a tie atop the A.L. Central. Kansas City is also locked in a 3-way logjam with Detroit and Seattle for the 2nd A.L. wild card. The Royals will try to avoid a damaging sweep on Wednesday.
On the Mound
Jason Vargas wobbled through 5.1 innings, giving up 6 hits (including 2 home runs), 3 walks, and 4 runs with 6 strikeouts. Vargas left the game in the 6th trailing 4-1.
Aaron Crow entered in the 6th and provided 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Kelvin Herrera pitched the 8th and ran his consecutive scoreless innings to 29.1 despite allowing 2 hits. Alcides Escobar made a nice play to keep a hard-hit grounder on the infield to prevent a run from scoring with 2 outs.
At the Plate
The Royals scored their first run in the 5th on Omar Infante‘s single with 2 men on base. That set up a 1st and 3rd situation for Alex Gordon with one out. Gordon came close to smashing a home run to right, but the ball sailed just wide of the foul pole. Tiger starter Max Scherzer walked Gordon, but then got Salvador Perez on a liner to 3rd and struck out Hosmer.
Kansas City scored their 2nd run on a grounder by Lorenzo Cain with Josh Willingham on 3rd and Mike Moustakas on 2nd after hitting a double. Alcides Escobar failed to pick up the runner by grounding to 3rd.
Omar Infante went 3 for 5 with 3 singles and 1 RBI.
Mike Moustakas went 2 for 4 with a single and double.
Overall, the Royals only managed 1 extra base knock out of 10 hits. Kansas City only plated 2 runs despite 10 hits and 5 walks in a horrible offensive performance.
This and That
The game was nationally televised by ESPN.
Jarrod Dyson made a huge base running mistake in the 9th by getting picked off 2nd with men on 1st and 2nd and 1 out. The pickoff killed the Royals momentum after KC opened the inning with 2 infield singles.
Dyson came into the game as a pinch runner for Nori Aoki and was attempting a double steal with fellow pinch runner Terrance Gore.
The loss drops Kansas City to 4-11 against the Tigers this season.
KC Kingdom Player of the Game
Aaron Crow gets our nod for providing 1.2 innings of scoreless relief that gave the Royals a chance to come back. It wasn’t his fault that the offense failed to score despite 15 baserunners.
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- Liam Hendriks
- Aaron Crow
- Josh Willingham – 2
- Billy Butler – 8
- Jason Frasor
- Francisley Bueno
- Danny Valencia
- Christian Colon
- Raul Ibanez
- Jarrod Dyson – 2
- Lorenzo Cain – 6
- Johnny Giavotella
- Wade Davis
- Norichika Aoki – 6
- Salvador Perez – 8
- Jeremy Guthrie – 4
- Jason Vargas – 8
- Alex Gordon – 14
- Bruce Chen – 5
- James Shields – 11
- Yordano Ventura – 6
- Danny Duffy – 7
- Omar Infante – 5
- Mike Moustakas – 10
- Alcides Escobar – 7
- Eric Hosmer – 12
- Erik Kratz
- Michael Mariot
The Tigers
Rajai Davis only went 1 for 4, but hit the 2-run home run (8) that proved to be the big blow in the game. His 2nd inning knock drove in 2 runs and put the Tigers up 3-0.
Up Next
The Royals and Tigers finish their 3-game series Wednesday night. James Shields (13-7, 3.23 ERA) will pitch for Kansas City, and will be opposed by Rick Porcello (15-10, 3.30 ERA) for Detroit. Game time is 6:00 PM CST at Comerica Park in Detroit.