HOUSTON -- Michael Wacha hasn’t gotten a lot of offensive support this season, but the Royals’ right-hander knew what to do with it Monday night. Staked to a big lead early, Wacha kept the Astros largely in check as Kansas City prevailed, 7-5, in the opener of a three-game series at Daikin Park.
Wacha came in with only nine runs of support -- fewest among Major League pitchers with at least eight starts -- in his first 45 1/3 innings this season. But he was given a 7-0 lead as the Royals scored four runs in the second inning and three in the third.
“Offense coming out and putting up seven runs for me early was awesome to see, and makes our life a lot easier out there on the mound,” said Wacha, who got through six scoreless frames before the Astros tagged him for two runs in the seventh. “But still want to stay on the attack and still make my pitches out there.”
Wacha, who was coming off a win in which he blanked the White Sox for seven innings, tossed six scoreless against these Astros on April 26 at Kauffman Stadium. He gave up eight hits Monday, but didn’t exit until Jeremy Peña’s sacrifice fly. Wacha’s fourth consecutive quality start lowered his ERA to 2.96.
Michael Massey got the scoring started by leading off the second inning with his second home run of the season. Then, the Royals put together a string of four straight hits -- Kyle Isbel’s double, Jonathan India’s RBI single, Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI triple and Vinnie Pasquantino’s RBI single -- to go up 4-0 and match their run total from this past weekend’s three-game series against the Red Sox.
“The at-bats were good right from the get-go,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We were able to string some things together. A bunch of two-out hits there in the second inning, which we’ve struggled to do lately, so that was really positive. And to add on the next inning was huge. It ended up being a much closer game than we would have liked, but to be able to get into their bullpen early in the series was a big deal.”
Also a big deal: a 4-6-3 double play that got Wacha out of a bases-loaded spot in the third. Massey backhanded Isaac Paredes’ shot up the middle, then flipped to Maikel Garcia, who was making his first start at shortstop this season as Witt served as DH. Garcia bounced his relay throw, but it was snared just in time by a stretching Pasquantino at first.
“That was the turning point in the game,” Quatraro said. “You never know what happens, and you’ve seen it in this ballpark plenty of times. Runs come in bunches, so to limit it right there was enormous.
“[Massey] got a great jump. I mean, that’s what started the whole thing. And then the wherewithal to go behind his back, Maikel ready to go, and Vinnie picked it. They all did something exceptional there.”
It all came down to preparation.
“I was talking about just how good our starting staff is, and we know in those situations that they’re going to get the ball on the ground,” Massey said. “That’s one of the things we always work on with Augie (infield coach José Alguacil) and Hoov (bench coach Paul Hoover), and just playing fast and being able to play on time.
“Having that PitchCom up there helps a little bit, too. Knowing what pitch is coming, you kind of anticipate maybe the way the hitter’s going to hit it based on his swing. So I had a decent idea of where it might go, and sometimes it works out and you look smart, and other times it doesn’t work out and you look dumb. So luckily, it worked out for us.”
Wacha admitted that play “got me fired up,” and he went on to post the Royals’ 22nd quality start in 43 games this season. Steven Cruz gave up three runs (two earned) in the eighth -- his first earned runs of the season -- to force the Royals to deploy Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estévez to secure the win.
India led the Royals with three hits, and Witt contributed a single and sacrifice fly besides the triple on which his home-to-third time was 11.07 seconds. That’s the third-fastest in the Major Leagues this year (trailing only Corbin Carroll’s 10.87 and 11.02 marks on two triples on April 27).