The scoring today got going early and often. The Royals got down bad early, but they used “this thing”, “that thing”, and “the other thing” to score a bunch of runs and come back for the win. Home runs? Sac flies? Double steals? This game had. It. All.
As the first batter in the bottom of the second, Luis Rengifo reached on a Pasquantino error and eventually came around to score with J.D. Davis on a Kevin Newman double.
The Royals responded with some errant small ball of their own, as Hunter Renfroe walked, went first-to-third on a single, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1 Angels.
In the bottom of the third, old friend Jorge Soler whacked a dinger with Travis d’Arnaud on base to make in 4-1 pretty quickly. Some of the same guys plated another two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a single, a forceout, a steal, a Trout single, and a Soler double to make it 6-1. Michael Wacha’s day was done after that forceout. His line looks kinda ugly (7 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned) but he struck out four guys in 3 1⁄3 innings, which is not too bad, but it’s hard to ignore six runs in four innings between him and Evan Sisk.
So gotta be honest – I totally missed this part. The Angels starter, Yusei Kikuchi, was removed in the top of the 4th. Then he came back in during the top of the 5th for three batters and was removed again. Did…I…miss a rule here? Not sure what’s going on there.
In the fifth, we got a look at new reliever Carlos Estévez. The first batter hit a tall popup on the infield, and Pasquantino initially tried to come in and catch it. He couldn’t quite make it in time and it came down to Estévez to catch it. He…did not. That fellow, Matthew Lugo, came around to score after a hit-and-run and sac fly to make it 7-1. What’s funny is that it appears to be an unearned run in the box score, but the error was on Estévez himself. So by botching the catch he still isn’t dinged for the run. Sports!
Therefore, I have decided that all pitchers should boot fielding plays to avoid earned runs and keep their ERA down.
The Royals finally broke through in a big way in the 6th inning. Cavan Biggio led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sac bunt (bunt? really?). Luke Maile (pronounced MAY-lee apparently) singled to get runners on the corners. Tyler Tolbert reached on a fielder’s choice and Biggio scored to make it 7-2. Maikel Garcia hit a frozen rope single to score Maile. Tolbert and Garcia advanced on a double steal (very cool), and Hunter Renfroe hit a double off the center field wall to score them both. Nick Pratto walked.
And then in the year 2025 during spring training, Hunter Renfroe and Nick Pratto executed a double steal. Yes, I know, there were two outs. I do not care. Nick Loftin hit a liner to left field and scored them both! That tied the game 7-7, and the Royals officially batted around.
Chris Stratton came on in the bottom of the sixth and gave up a double but otherwise had a quiet inning. The Royals, however, took their first lead of the game in the 7th. Drew Waters just missed a home run and ended up with a triple instead. He scored on a Tolbert sac fly to make it 8-7.
Stratton remained in the game to get two quiet outs in the 7th, but then Quatraro pulled him for Taylor Clarke. Clarke promptly gave up a single, HBP, and a single to tie the game 8-8.
But in this back-and-forth game, the scoring wasn’t done yet. Peyton Wilson hit a home run to left field to make it 9-8 Royals in the top of the 8th inning. Clarke followed with a quick bottom of the 8th, so that’s something. Steven Cruz got a 1-2-3 9th inning to close out the victory.
The Royals have a split-squad set tomorrow, Saturday March 15th, against the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians at 3:05pm US Central. In the Reds game, it looks like Lorenzen vs Greene. The Guardians game will be televised on FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City. It looks like Bubic vs McKenzie in that game.