MINNEAPOLIS -- Four runs has been the magic number for the Royals this year; entering Saturday, they had 17 wins and just one loss when putting up a four-spot or more. That’s the product of an offense that has yet to heat up nearly two months into the season and an excellent pitching staff.
Saturday flipped that script.
An early four-run lead collapsed in the middle innings and evaporated by the end of the Royals’ 5-4 walk-off loss to the Twins on Saturday, their second consecutive walk-off loss in as many days this weekend at Target Field.
“Frustrating,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “There’s no doubt. We’re competing like crazy, and you want to come out on top of these games. … Get walked off two days in a row, it’s really a gut punch. But nothing you can do about it now.
“We had some opportunities to extend that lead, and we didn’t do that. Came back to haunt us.”
Royals starter Michael Wacha was ultra-efficient to begin his outing, only needing 37 pitches through four innings. Compare that to Twins starter Zebby Matthews, who might have struck out nine Royals, but also needed 81 pitches to get through his four innings.
But it went off the rails for Wacha in the fifth. Harrison Bader led off the frame with a homer, and the Twins tacked on two more runs to cut their deficit to one. Wacha hit Willi Castro, allowed a single to Christian Vázquez and then a two-run single to Ty France, who has a 1.226 OPS against the Royals this year.
Wacha’s pitch count was only at 59 after five innings, but he clearly wasn’t the same pitcher as he was for the first four innings of the game. And he even admitted that his pitches early on were not sharp -- i.e., he got lucky that the Twins were aggressive and hitting balls right at Royals defenders.
“Even then, wasn’t getting a lot of swing and miss,” said Wacha, who generated five whiffs on 36 swings. “Balls were over the middle of the plate. They were just hitting them at guys, I would say, for the most part. Defense was playing great behind me. Making plays. I got to be finer with my pitches.”
But the Royals went back to Wacha for the sixth inning, only to watch Kody Clemens hit the game-tying home run to the right-field bleachers.
“We know if we put a lefty in there in the sixth, they’re going to [Carlos] Correa there or another righty,” Quatraro said. “Michael’s got the stuff to get those guys out. … We have all the confidence in the world with him, especially where he was work-wise.”
The breathing room had turned into another close, tight game for the Royals. And the offense wasn’t able to continue what it showed against Matthews when the Twins turned to their bullpen.
“This one stings, for sure,” Wacha said. “Guys put up a good lead for us. We gave it right back to them a couple innings later. Just frustrating on my end.”
The Royals struck out 18 times on Saturday afternoon and left the bases loaded in two separate innings. That included the ninth inning, when Bobby Witt Jr. avoided a fifth strikeout by driving a single to right field before stealing second and third base against Twins closer Jhoan Duran. With Vinnie Pasquantino on first, Salvador Perez and Maikel Garcia both struck out swinging, but Mark Canha walked to load the bases. Drew Waters hit a soft chopper back to Duran to end the threat.
Kansas City went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Friday night before leaving 12 runners on base Saturday.
“[Duran] threw me [a] sweeper and three curveballs,” said Perez, who was back in the lineup Saturday after an illness kept him on the bench Friday. “That guy throws 100 [mph], so you have to be ready for the fastball. So I was looking for a fastball on the last pitch, and he threw me a curveball right down the middle. He’s tough -- one of the best.”
With Quatraro saving closer Carlos Estévez for a lead, he brought in Daniel Lynch IV for the bottom of the ninth.
That’s when the Twins brought in Correa to pinch-hit, and he drew a leadoff walk. Lynch exited with two on and one out for Steven Cruz, who recorded the second out, but allowed the game-winning single on a soft-hit ball up the middle from Brooks Lee.
“In that situation, you just got to make good pitches,” Lynch said. “I felt like I was close. But just missing. … It just wasn’t cooperating today. Wasn’t making pitches.”