Royals whiff 18 times in fanless opener at Cleveland, will regroup Saturday with Singer
The usual fanfare and fervor of Opening Day, the culmination of months of buildup and anticipation having reached a fever pitch, gave way to artificial crowd noise in an empty ballpark.
In the same venue that sat in the center of the baseball world a little more than a year ago as the host of the 2019 MLB All-Star Game, stirring a sustained buzz and bustle for several days in downtown Cleveland, the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians opened the 2020 season in a ballpark that featured the sounds of a ballgame but lacked the typical atmosphere.
Once the game started, the only sights and sounds that mattered were those of Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber and his knuckle curveball handcuffing Royals hitters for the vast majority of his six scoreless innings.
Bieber set the tone and a franchise record for strikeouts in a season opener — 14 — as the Royals fell 2-0 at Progressive Field Friday night.
The Royals had just two at-bats with runners in scoring position. Their four hits matched 2006 and 2012 for the second-fewest on an opening day in club history.
“When you get that many swings and misses, you know you’ve got something working,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “The curveball was even better than I knew he had even watching the film. That was really sharp. … He was making really good pitches. I haven’t really seen the video. We had some guys kind of barking a little bit, but he was either making really good pitches or just off.”
The Royals struck out 18 times, breaking their franchise record of 12 on an opening day (1973, 1975 and 1999).
Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy allowed two runs on three hits in 4 1/3 innings. Both runs scored after he’d come out of the game.
Royals Whit Merrifield, Salvador Perez, Alex Gordon and Nicky Lopez each had hits. Perez, who missed all last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March, singled in his first regular-season at-bat since 2018.
Merrifield, Lopez and Gordon were on base twice each. Merrifield got hit by a pitch to start the game. Lopez also walked in his third plate appearance, and Gordon was hit by a pitch to start the ninth inning against closer Brad Hand.
“That curveball, if I’m not mistaken, is a new pitch for him,” Merrifield said of Bieber. “Last year, he was predominantly fastball, slider. For him to mix in that curveball — it’s a good one. It’s sharp and he was commanding it well. For him to mix that in now is just going to elevate his game.”
Bieber struck out nine in the first four innings as the Royals failed to piece together any significant scoring opportunities early.
In the fifth, after a one-out single dropped into center field by Lopez and a Merrifield single on a full count, the Royals had runners on the corners with two outs. Merrifield stole second to put two in scoring position, and Adalberto Mondesi worked his way back from 0-2 to a full count. But Bieber’s curve got Mondesi swinging on the sixth pitch of the at-bat.
In the next half-inning, the Indians capitalized on their chances and took advantage of fortuitous defensive positioning.
Duffy hit the leadoff batter and gave up a one-out single on a bouncer that might have been a double-play ball if the defense hadn’t been shifted. Instead it put runners on the corners.
“I did think it was hit to where double-play depth would be, but there’s so many advancements we’ve made in shifting people,” Duffy said. “You never second-guess what your coaches do. I feel like that’s going to work a lot more than it doesn’t. I would never second-guess Vance Wilson. It is what it is. It’s a sign of the times, and the numbers don’t lie.”
Matheny removed the left-handed-throwing Duffy after just 65 pitches and called on right-hander Scott Barlow to face right-handed Oscar Mercado.
Duffy, who had thrown 90 pitches in his most recent spring training outing, said of being taken out of the game, “I always want the ball. I’m just going to leave it at that.”
Barlow gave up an RBI single on another grounder through the infield into center field. He then gave up an RBI double down the third-base line and hit a batter to load the bases with one out and two runs already in. Barlow held the line at two, though, thanks to a strikeout and an inning-ending ground ball.
“We got one of our better right-handers hot and a right-handed hitting nine-hole hitter” Matheny said. “We felt it would be tough to roll him up, but we still liked our chances with Barlow getting a ground ball that we did get. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.”
Even with the damage limited to two runs, the Royals’ offense didn’t get another runner in scoring position for the rest of the night.
Highly regarded pitching prospect Brady Singer will make his major-league debut for the Royals Saturday evening in game two of the series and season.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 9:27 PM with the headline "Royals whiff 18 times in fanless opener at Cleveland, will regroup Saturday with Singer."
