Bubba Starling’s double lifts Royals to win. Rosenthal collects first save since 2017
The Royals wrapped up their season-opening seven-game road trip by pushing across three runs in the final third of the game to salvage a series split against the Detroit Tigers Thursday night.
Outfielder Bubba Starling, a former Gardner Edgerton High star, hit a two-run double that provided the margin of victory in a 5-3 win at Comerica Park in Detroit. Right-handed reliever Trevor Rosenthal, a Lee’s Summit native, closed the door with a scoreless ninth to record his first save since Aug. 12, 2017.
Rosenthal’s previous save came as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals against the Atlanta Braves 1,083 days ago. Rosenthal had Tommy John surgery in 2017. Last year, his first season back after the surgery, he pitched ineffectively in stints with the Washington Nationals and the Tigers.
“I enjoyed my time here,” Rosenthal said. “There are really good people here, great park to play in, great city. It’s crazy that things come full circle like they have. I’m playing for the hometown team and coming back and getting the save against a team I was with not even 12 months ago.
“Just all around — to have to wait through the shutdown period where we were all feeling excited in spring training and I didn’t think it was going to take this long to have three innings pitched.”
Royals designated hitter Jorge Soler went 3 for 5 with two doubles and a run, while Adalberto Mondesi (3 for 4, run) and Alex Gordon (3 for 4, a double, two runs) also collected three hits apiece.
Royals rookie pitcher Brady Singer pitched five innings and allowed two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out three and did not factor into the decision in his second big-league start. Both runs he gave up on Thursday came on solo home runs in the first and fourth innings, respectively.
The Royals (3-4) also snapped out of a recent funk that saw their offense go cold in late innings. Entering the night, they’d gone an MLB-worst 1 for 37 in late and close situations — defined as plate appearances in the seventh inning or later in which the batting team is tied, ahead by one, or the tying run is at least on deck.
But they scored one run in the seventh and two in the eighth to secure the victory.
“We keep talking about it. Next thing you know, they answer it,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of the late-inning scoring. “I’m happy for them. Once again, there wasn’t a lack of urgency before. They just saw opportunities to keep working to get better. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Matheny also credited hitting coach Terry Bradshaw for urging the players to stay with their approach and doing the little things right at the plate.
Whit Merrifield, who went 0 for 3 in his first three at-bats, got hit by a pitch with one out and the score tied 2-2 in the seventh. Soler doubled on a ball that sliced toward the right-field corner, and that put runners on second and third with one out and Salvador Perez coming up.
Perez hit a grounder to second and Merrifield ran on contact. Merrifield scored without a throw, but the Tigers threw to third in time to get Soler.
Then, in the eighth inning, the Royals created some breathing room thanks to the singles by Gordon, Adalberto Mondesi and a two-run double by Starling, a defensive replacement in the seventh inning.
Starling failed to get a bunt down on the first pitch of the at-bat. Then he ripped an 0-1 curveball down the third-base line and off the wall in foul territory in left field.
Starling struggled against breaking pitches in KC’s season-opening series against the Cleveland Indians, but his hit Thursday night proved crucial as Miguel Cabrera added his second homer of the game in the eighth off reliever Ian Kennedy.
“Big hit,” Matheny said. “Getting us to that spot too, Salvy putting pressure on the defense by putting it in play. Great jump by Whit on the contact play that brings a run across. Then Bubba gets a chance to put an exclamation point on it right there. We needed those runs, obviously.”
Singer pitched five innings and allowed two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out three. Both runs he gave up came on solo homers on sliders in the first and fourth innings, respectively.
Singer gave up his first homer in the majors to 11-time All-Star and former Triple Crown winner Cabrera.
“I didn’t have the exact slider I had that first outing, but I battled through it,” Singer said. “I think that’s one thing that I can say, this one was definitely more of a battle than the last one.”
For the second time in his two starts, the Royals handed Singer a lead before he stepped on the rubber. This time, they scored first on an RBI single up the middle through a shifted defense by Ryan O’Hearn.
After Cabrera’s homer in the bottom half of the first, the Royals edged in front in the second on an RBI single by Franchy Cordero to score Gordon.
The Tigers’ Jonathan Schoop continued to vex Royals pitchers, homering in his third consecutive game: This time he took an 0-2 slider from Singer deep to left-center field to tie it at 2 to start the fourth.
That set the stage for the Royals’ offensive push.
Speedster Nick Heath, a graduate of Junction City High in Kansas, made his MLB debut with the Royals as a pinch-runner in the ninth.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 9:14 PM with the headline "Bubba Starling’s double lifts Royals to win. Rosenthal collects first save since 2017."
