Kansas City Royals win again in Milwaukee, complete season interleague sweep of Brewers
Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny’s message to Nicky Lopez going into his sixth-inning at-bat boiled down to this: No pressure, but what you do with your next at-bat will decide whether or not I take out starting pitcher Brad Keller.
Lopez stepped into the box with the bases loaded and two outs in a tie game against a southpaw relief pitcher in Brent Suter, who typically handcuffs left-handed hitters. Lopez had struck out the only previous time he’d faced Suter.
So of course Lopez ripped a 1-0 fastball into right field off the wall on a hop for a two-run double. That gave the Royals a lead they didn’t relinquish in a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of an announced 30,063 at American Family Field on Wednesday afternoon.
“Skip actually told me, ‘Hey, take your chance. Be aggressive. Take your best at-bat because we’re probably going to pinch hit for Keller,’” Lopez said. “Fortunately enough, I was able to get a couple of runs in and Keller was able to stay in the game, so it was great.”
After Lopez’s pivotal double, Keller batted for himself and came back out to pitch at the start of the seventh inning. His third consecutive quality start gave the club a big boost as the Royals (39-55) swept their two-game set as well as the four-game season series against the NL Central-leading Brewers (56-41).
Lopez’s two-run double came as part of a 2-for-4 performance. Whit Merrifield had two hits, a run scored and his MLB-leading 25th stolen base. He also reached on an error and scored the game’s first run. Andrew Benintendi doubled, drove in a run and scored a run.
Third baseman Hunter Dozier went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, and Jorge Soler homered for the second day in a row.
In his last 15 games, Dozier has gone 18 for 52 (.346) with six RBIs, a home run, six walks, and a .426 OBP. Soler has three homers in his last seven games.
“There’s a reason why Soler led the league in home runs two years ago, and there’s a reason why Dozier was fortunate to get a great contract this offseason, which was well-deserved,” Lopez said. “We know that it’s in there. Baseball sometimes can slap you right in the face, but it’s how you answer. They’ve been putting in the work day in and day out. It was great to see it show the last week or so.”
Keller (7-9) allowed three runs on six hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six. He allowed all three of his runs in the fifth inning.
Keller’s strong start came on the heels of Mike Minor having tossed six innings and holding the Brewers to two runs on Tuesday, the day the Royals placed starting pitchers Danny Duffy and Brady Singer on the injured list.
“It’s always a blow to the rotation when you lose two guys on the same day,” Keller said. “It sucks, but it’s just one of those things where when Duff went out the first time we’ve (had) to pick up the slack. Mikey going out there and giving them a strong six innings (Tuesday), I just wanted to follow suit, honestly. That was my goal.”
The wins by Keller and Minor were the first in back-to-back games by Royals starters since Minor and Singer won on May 31 and June 1.
“It’s huge,” Matheny said of the back-to-back starts by Keller and Minor. “What we do is always going to hinge on our starting pitching. And these are the two that we’re expecting to step up and really lead our staff. For them to go about it the way they did these last two games sets the tone.”
The Royals grabbed a two-run lead in the fourth inning after a two-base throwing error set the table by putting Merrifield on second base with no outs.
It looked as though the Royals might squander the chance with back-to-back strikeouts by Carlos Santana and Salvador Perez, but Benintendi delivered a two-out RBI double into the left field corner. Dozier followed with an RBI single that dropped just a few feet in front of Brewer left fielder Christian Yelich.
Through four innings, Keller had allowed just three hits and racked up six strikeouts. He retired the first five batters he faced.
The Brewers threatened to unravel Keller’s outing in the fifth inning. A four-pitch leadoff walk by Luis Urias started a three-run inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. singled on a ball that jammed him, and Urias went from first to third on the play. Pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez followed with a sacrifice fly that cut the Royals’ lead in half.
The next batter, Kolten Wong, singled on a bunt down the third-base line that drew an adamant objection from third baseman Hunter Dozier. Dozier waited for the slow-rolling ball to slide into foul territory before moving to pick it up.
“The way this foul line plays is even if it looks like it’s going to start going foul, it wants to push it back into fair territory,” Dozier said. “Me and Keller were really just waiting for it to get over the line. Right when I saw it go over the line just a tiny bit — because I knew it was going to try to come back — right when I saw that, I touched it. Keller was yelling, ‘Get it! Get it! Get it!’ We both thought it was foul.”
When Dozier picked the ball up, it had started back towards the foul line. Home plate umpire Lance Barksdale called the ball fair, which left Wong safe at first and Bradley at second with no outs. Yelich then hit an RBI single, and Will Adames’ groundout scored the go-ahead run from third base.
The Brewers led 3-2 going into the sixth.
The Royals retook control for good with their three-run sixth inning.
Santana’s single started it. Benintendi reached on a one-out fielding error, Dozier’s second RBI single tied the score. Ryan McBroom batted for Michael A. Taylor, who came out of the game due to wrist soreness he experienced during an earlier at-bat. McBroom had a pinch-hit infield single to load the bases in front of Lopez.
The Royals’ bullpen contingent of Jake Brentz (1/3 innings), Kyle Zimmer (one inning) and Scott Barlow combined for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Royals will have an off-day Thursday, and then they’ll begin a three-game weekend series with the Detroit Tigers on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Kansas City Royals win again in Milwaukee, complete season interleague sweep of Brewers."
