KC Royals took a late lead. Then these decisions backfired in loss to Detroit Tigers
The autopsy of the Kansas City Royals’ 7-5 home loss to the Detroit Tigers will start — and end — with a fateful top of the seventh inning.
Yes, Miguel Cabrera’s grand slam delivered the final blow. But it was all the steps up to that point that will likely roll around manager Mike Matheny’s mind as he plays the “what if” game following KC’s fall-from-ahead defeat.
A clutch single from Ryan O’Hearn followed by a towering homer to left from Michael A. Taylor staked the Royals with a 5-3 lead in the sixth, while also leaving Matheny with an immediate decision: Leave in starter Mike Minor for the bottom of the Tigers’ order in the seventh, or bring in a reliever?
It’s no secret by now the Royals have been attempting to skate along at less-than-full bullpen capacity lately. Jesse Hahn remains on the injured list. Jakob Junis was recently pulled from the rotation to help out the back end. Veterans like Wade Davis and Greg Holland, meanwhile, have yet to perform as well as expected.
Perhaps that all circled Matheny’s mind — even following an off day — as he sent Minor back to the mound at 87 pitches.
We live in a probabilistic world. Perhaps Matheny’s decision, on more days than not, works out just fine for the Royals.
On this day, it did not. JaCoby Jones and Jake Rogers shot consecutive singles to center, leaving a mess on the basepaths as Matheny summoned Tyler Zuber.
Minor, for his part, said he felt fine going back out for the seventh.
“I got both guys to two strikes. And I guess they did a better job than me keeping the bat in the zone,” Minor said. “I thought I made decent pitches, but maybe a different pitch there ... maybe a curveball, something that’s going up and down. I threw those guys a lot of changeups tonight. They started staying back at least.”
The Royals caught a couple breaks but still couldn’t get themselves out of the jam. Robbie Grossman singled to right off Zuber, and though Jones looked like he would’ve scored easily, he was held up by third base coach Chip Hale.
Then, with Jonathan Schoop batting, a Zuber fastball in the dirt bounded a few feet away from Salvador Perez, though the catcher was able to recover in time to flip it to Zuber, who tagged Jones for a freebie out.
After Schoop walked, Zuber struck out Jeimer Candelario looking to set up the game’s most important at-bat with the bases full and two outs.
Matheny called Holland out of the bullpen for the high-leverage situation.
“Greg has come through in situations similar to that,” Matheny said. “You try to make the moves that you think are going to give us our best shot, and sometimes they’re going to work, and other times, they’re not.”
Holland pushed the count to 3-2 before spinning a slider on the outside edge.
Cabrera didn’t miss, smashing it 405 feet to the first row of seats in left field for his first grand slam since June of 2019.
Holland said he was trying to locate his off-speed pitch low and away and elevated it more than he wanted. There’s a fine line, though, as throwing a pitch out of the strike zone in that situation risks walking a runner in, especially with a disciplined hitter like Cabrera at the plate.
“I was more upset that I didn’t get in a better spot (in the count) before that happened,” Holland said. “I feel completely responsible for the loss. It’s a game we should have won.”
The ending ruined a Minor outing that had some encouraging signs. For the second straight game, he’d relied more heavily on a late-breaking changeup, this time creating eight whiffs with the pitch — the most he’d had with it in the last two seasons.
Cabrera, who homered twice, continued a hot streak this season against KC, as eight of his 20 hits this season have been against the team.
The Royals (20-23) lost their fourth consecutive game against the Tigers; KC was swept during a three-game series in Detroit from May 11-13.
Friday’s result could be pinned on one bad inning — while also sealed by one Cabrera swing.
“I’ve thrown many pitches over the course of my career that were just really bad pitches right down the middle, and the guy pops out, and you’re like, ‘Hey, way to do your job,’” Holland said. “It didn’t work out like that today, and it cost us the win.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 10:39 PM with the headline "KC Royals took a late lead. Then these decisions backfired in loss to Detroit Tigers."
