Carlos Santana’s two-homer day not enough as Kansas City Royals lose on a walk-off
Kansas City Royals first baseman Carlos Santana returned to Cleveland and delivered a stark reminder of the dangerous presence he provided that club’s lineup for years. However, it wasn’t enough to carry his current club to victory.
Royals veteran relief pitcher Greg Holland gave up a walk-off three-run home run with two outs in the ninth to Franmil Reyes in a 7-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians in the first game of a four-game series in front of an announced crowd of 13,272 at Progressive Field on Thursday night. Heavy rain delayed the start of the game by 12 minutes.
The Royals (36-51) have now lost 13 of 16, and they’ve lost six in a row to the Indians. Meanwhile, the Indians (43-42) snapped a nine-game losing slide.
Santana, who spent 10 seasons playing for the Indians, blasted two home runs — including a game-tying solo shot in the top of the ninth against Indians closer James Karinchak.
“My approach (was to) not try to do too much, especially with a pitcher like him,” Santana said of his second homer. “He has a great fastball, a great curveball. My approach is to think in the middle [of the field] and try to make good contact.”
In the bottom of the ninth, Holland got a groundout and then gave up a double by Cesar Hernandez down the right-field line. Holland then struck out Amed Rosario, swinging, with a 1-2 slider in the dirt.
With Jose Ramirez due up next, the Royals opted to intentionally walk Ramirez and pitch to Reyes instead.
Ramirez had already proven to the Royals that he’s willing and capable of delivering in pivotal late-game situations.
Ramirez, last year’s runner-up for the AL MVP, smashed a pair of home runs to provide all the offense in a win over the Royals in Cleveland on April 7. His first homer in that game came off Jesse Hahn and gave his team a one-run lead. His second that day came against Holland in the eighth and provided the margin of victory.
On May 5, Ramirez crushed a tying home run in the eighth inning off Jakob Junis. The Indians went on to win that game by one run in Kansas City.
“You’ve got to pick your poison,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We’ve watched one guy do it to us too many times, and there’s still another open base. We just hate to make a mistake while having first base open at that point.”
With Reyes at the plate, Holland missed inside with a first-pitch fastball. Then he came back with another fastball, this time over the inner third of the plate, and Reyes pulled his hands in and got the barrel to it. His game-winning smash traveled an estimated 435 feet to center field.
Holland wasn’t the only member of the Royals bullpen who got roughed up in a crucial spot.
Workhorse reliever Scott Barlow, who gave up two runs and also allowed one inherited runner to score on Wednesday in Kansas City, didn’t have the desired bounce-back performance on Thursday in Cleveland.
Barlow gave up a pair of walks followed by a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth as the Royals coughed up a two-run lead with two outs.
Indians catcher Roberto Perez, who entered the day batting .139 with three home runs in 22 games this season, got ahead in the count by taking a pair of sliders outside of the zone. After he took a 2-0 fastball, Perez lifted a slider that stayed over the middle of the plate out of the ballpark to center field.
Matheny admitted that he didn’t initially think Perez’s high fly ball was going to make it out of the park.
“No, I didn’t,” Matheny said. “Scott’s slider normally doesn’t get hit like that anyhow. Maybe it goes back to (the earlier) question about being used a lot and them just kinda going on fumes right now and limping in, maybe, to the All-Star break.
“So we’re going to have to take a look at it and make sure the medical team and the sports performance people get their hands on and see if there’s something there. Because Scott, he just doesn’t normally get hit like that.”
Barlow struggled to command his pitches consistently in the inning. Both walks he issued were on four pitches, and he fell behind four of the first five batters he faced.
Hunter Dozier also homered and hit a double. Michael A. Taylor and Jarrod Dyson smacked doubles. Whit Merrifield had an RBI and his MLB-leading 24th stolen base.
Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy, who made his fifth start since coming off the injured list, pitched five innings and allowed one run, four hits and three walks. He struck out five and threw a total of 77 pitches.
Duffy exited with the Royals leading 3-1.
“I’d put our guys up against anybody,” Duffy said of the bullpen. “It probably didn’t help that I wasted so many pitches. I could have gone an extra frame. The bullpen has been used a ton. And we’ve got a nasty bullpen, man. It just didn’t fall our way tonight.
“But we all have the utmost confidence in each other as a whole. We’re going to keep grinding. And we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re going to come out of this little funk.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Carlos Santana’s two-homer day not enough as Kansas City Royals lose on a walk-off."
