What we learned after the KC Royals made a game of it in the ninth inning

The KC Royals were close, but no cigar in their 5-4 loss to the Cubs on Tuesday night.

The Kansas City Royals played their 12th game of the season at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Cubs on Tuesday night and came up just short. They made it interesting late with a runner on third in the ninth inning, but weren’t able to get that tying run across the plate.

This was another frustrating loss for the Royals and it’s been a brutally bad team so far this season. What have we learned about the Royals after their 5-4 loss at Wrigley Field?

Brady Singer took the mound for the third time this season.

After two solid performances, Brady Singer made the third start of his career and it came on his 24th birthday. Singer went five innings once again, but gave up a pair of two-run bombs while striking out eight and walking two batters. His ERA now sits at 4.80.

The fifth Cubs run was scored off of Trevor Rosenthal, who surrendered his first run as a Royal. That run proved pivotal as the Royals ended up plating four runs.

Scott Barlow and Tyler Zuber pitched scoreless innings, but Zuber had to get himself out of a few bases loaded jams. Barlow, on the other hand, has pitched incredibly well since his rough 2020 debut. Kevin McCarthy entered the game with two out in the eighth and got the final out of that inning without allowing any damage.

The bullpen has still pitched pretty well considering they’ve been asked to go at least four innings in almost every game this season. They’ve been a nice surprise in 2020.

The KC Royals offense plated four runs, but it was too little, too late.

After scoring a run in the second inning, the Royals offense was quiet until the fifth inning where they put up another run. Their ninth inning effort came as a result of facing the weak Cubs bullpen (What happened to Craig Kimbrel? He looked rough), but hey – They made the most of it.

That ninth inning resulted in Salvador Perez and Adalberto Mondesi getting on base and both scoring runs. Nick Heath was put into the game as a pinch-runner for Maikel Franco (who knocked in Mondesi) and he found his way to third base via two swiped bags.

Heath was on third and the man at the plate trying to get him home was good ol’ Bubba Starling, who gave it his all, but eventually grounded out to third to end the game. Royals fans were hoping this would be Starling’s big moment as a Royal, but that didn’t happen unfortunately.

Mondesi is figuring things out for the KC Royals.

One of the biggest positives there is right now for this team is that Adalberto Mondesi is getting going after a sluggish start. He went 3-for-4 with an RBI and scoring a run and his batting average is now up to .289 on the year.

Mondesi turning things around will be huge for this team and he came up big when needed to in this game. Hopefully this continues for the Royals shortstop because Mondesi can take this offense to a whole other level.

That makes five straight losses for the KC Royals.

It was another close loss for the Royals, but the silver lining here is that – as I just mentioned – it was another close lose. The Royals haven’t been blown out in either of these losses to the Cubs, who are a much better team than Kansas City this year.

Singer, despite giving up four runs, was poised and came back out to pitch the fifth after giving up his second two-run home run and being up there in the pitch count. He got through that fifth inning with ease and something worth noting was that Singer had the most trouble against the bottom of the order and not the big names like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, or Javier Baez.

Next. Nine Royals Prospects Who Could Make Debuts. dark

Next up, the series continues, but it goes from Wrigley Field to Kauffman Stadium as the Cubs will head to Kansas City for two games.

Twelve games down, 48 to go!

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