Kris Bubic stellar in a loss after Brady Singer put Kansas City Royals in a hole
Brady Singer fell victim to one of those quicksand kind of innings. The more the Kansas City Royals’ right-hander struggled, the deeper he got pulled into the muck.
Singer gave up a career-high seven runs and didn’t record an out in the third inning before having to hand off the game to the bullpen.
Left-hander Kris Bubic provided a solid relief outing as the Royals made a bid to climb back into the game, but the Royals offense couldn’t overcome the deficit in an 8-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in front of an announced 27,292 at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night.
The Royals (37-54) have now lost five of their last six games.
The Orioles scored two runs in the second inning against Singer and five in the third.
“I think I just fell behind, command got away from me in the second,” Singer said. “I fell behind in the count a lot. It ended up kind of spiraling down on me. Most of the misses were right down the middle. Any team is going to take advantage of pitches that are in the middle of the plate.”
Bubic tossed six innings and allowed just one run on three hits and three walks. He struck out five in his third relief outing this season of at least five innings.
In the fourth inning, Bubic gave up a leadoff triple, which led to a run when the next batter hit a sacrifice fly. He did not allow another hit until the eighth.
“I’ve been in that role before, this year” Bubic said. “And in a situation like that, like I’ve said before, just give the team length. I gave up the triple, not an ideal way to start. But I just kind of settled in after that and just kept trying to attack and get outs as quick as I could.”
Bubic became the first Royal to pitch six innings or more in a relief appearance since Todd Wellemeyer (6 2/3 innings) on Aug. 13, 2006.
“Terrific,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Bubic’s outing. “Everything that we had hoped for, obviously, except for that lead triple that ended up scoring. Besides that, he went four innings or so before he gave up another hit.
“A couple walks mixed in, but working ahead in the count, three-pitch mix. I thought he did a nice job balancing the breaking ball. ... That’s one for him to put into the memory bank as far as who he should be attacking the strike zone.”
Nicky Lopez and Salvador Perez had two hits apiece for the Royals. Lopez reached base three times and scored twice, while Perez drove in a run. Carlos Santana (1 for 5, double) and Whit Merrifield (sacrifice fly) also drove in runs.
Singer allowed seven runs on eight hits and one walk in two innings. He faced six batters in the third inning, and each of them pounded out hits. The two-inning start matched Singer’s shortest outing of the season.
His only other start of as few as two innings came against the Minnesota Twins on April 30, but he left that start after having been hit on the heel by a comebacker in the second inning. That ball off his heel actually started a double play.
In his most recent previous outing, Singer had turned in one of his better starts of the season. He held the Cincinnati Reds to one run on five hits and one walk in six innings-plus on July 7.
Saturday, after retiring the side in order in the first, Singer gave up a single and a walk to start the second, and both of those runners came around to score on RBI singles by Ramon Urias and groundout by Domingo Leyba.
Singer limited the damage to two runs in the second, but the Orioles tacked on five in the third. Cedric Mullins’ leadoff double started the run of six consecutive hits, including five singles, as the Orioles seemed locked in on Singer.
“I think (Singer) kind of missed his spots a little bit,” Perez said. “He tried to go away, missed in the middle of the home plate. Tried to go in, missed back to the middle. I think it was just a bad game for him. Bubic was the opposite for him. He made his pitches. He had his curveball and changeup down, got a lot of chase.”
Meanwhile, the Orioles started a familiar face in former Royal Jorge Lopez. The 28-year-old right-hander from Puerto Rico, reinstated from the bereavement list prior to the game, had one of his better starts going until the fifth inning.
The Royals trailed 7-1 going into the fifth. The first run came on Santana’s two-out RBI double in the third.
The Royals scored three runs and chased Lopez before he recorded the third out of the inning. A bases-loaded wild pitch scored one run, Merrifield’s sacrifice fly scored the second. Perez drove in the third when he lined a 1-2 curveball into left field for a two-out RBI single to make the score 8-4.
Lopez made 47 appearances, including 25 starts, for the Royals from 2018-2020. The Royals acquired him along with outfielder Brett Phillips from the Milwaukee Brewers in the trade that sent Mike Moustakas to the Brewers in July 2018.
Lopez repeatedly showed flashes of dominance and featured an electric repertoire of pitches. After being acquired from the Brewers in 2018, he went on to take a perfect game bid into the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins on September 8.
However, inconsistency plagued him during his time with the Royals. He made 18 starts for the Royals in 2019 and posted a 4-9 record with a 6.33 ERA. He finished that season in the bullpen.
Last season, he appeared in just one game for the Royals and allowed two runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning. The Royals designated him for assignment on August 7, and the Orioles claimed him off waivers on August 9.
“He’s one of the best teammates I had in my career, humble guy, liked to compete, always quiet, never got in trouble,” Perez said of Jorge Lopez. “I met his family, his wife, his kid, you already know about that. So to see him tonight in the big leagues and pitching against us, I was happy.”
Lopez’s son, Mikael, since birth, has dealt with two chronic diseases since birth that necessitated daily injections. One, Familial Mediterranean Fever, causes fever and abdomen pain. The other, Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease.
Lopez did not factor into the decision. He allowed four runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Royals can still win the series with a victory on Sunday afternoon. They’ll send right-hander Carlos Hernandez to the mound, while another former Royals, Matt Harvey, will start for the Orioles.
This story was originally published July 17, 2021 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Kris Bubic stellar in a loss after Brady Singer put Kansas City Royals in a hole."
