3 takeaways from rubber game -- including 2-out rallies by pesky Crew

KANSAS CITY -- Every time the Royals battled back, the Brewers stayed one step ahead of them and held the Royals off from fully overcoming the early deficit they found themselves in Sunday afternoon.

It led to Kansas City’s 8-5 loss at Kauffman Stadium, dropping the series to Milwaukee and ending a homestand that had started out so strong on a bit of a bitter note. The Royals (4-5) fell to a game below .500, as they head to Cleveland for three games Monday-Wednesday.

“We never died this series, even if there were opportunities to,” first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “We shouldn’t be patted on the back for that, but it is good to see this early in the season.”

There are signs of this Royals team fully coming together, but there have still been a few mistakes holding them back. Three stand out from Sunday.

1. Two-out walks haunt Bubic

Starter Kris Bubic was tagged with four runs in five innings and put the Royals in an early deficit with a three-run first inning -- all with two outs. William Contreras walked, Christian Yelich tripled -- on a ball left fielder Nick Loftin dove for but missed -- and Gary Sánchez hit a two-run homer.

In the fourth, Bubic walked Brandon Lockridge with two outs and allowed an RBI double to Blake Perkins.

“It wasn’t necessarily a loss of focus, it was just a lack of execution getting ahead in the count, because the stuff felt normal today,” Bubic said. “They just made it hurt with two outs. It’s a pesky lineup over there. They’re good for a reason. They just did their damage with two outs and took advantage of the free 90 feet I gave them.”

Bubic registered a 40% whiff rate and struck out eight batters. But the Brewers did all their damage on the four hits Bubic allowed, and all on fastballs.

Eleven of the 14 runs the Brewers scored this series came with two outs. Pesky indeed.

2. So close in the seventh

The Royals cut into the deficit on Maikel Garcia’s two-run homer in the third, his first of the season, and looked on the verge of a full comeback in a three-run seventh.

Just missed it.

The bottom of the order continued its success by loading the bases with no outs. As the lineup flipped over, Garcia lined an RBI single, and Pasquantino followed two batters later with a two-run single -- a nice bounceback for him after going 1-for-8 in Saturday’s doubleheader, including a game-ending strike three call in Game 1.

But it's what happened in between those two that sticks out.

Bobby Witt Jr. struck out looking on a ball that appeared to be off the plate, but the Royals had already lost their ABS challenges. Still, the at-bat continued a slow start for Witt, who has a .575 OPS to begin the season and is still looking for his first extra-base hit.

“He’s in one of those spots right now where it seems like he’s got two strikes every time he goes up,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Some of it is being pitched tough. Some of it is expanding up a little bit at times on the fastball.”

The good news? It’s Bobby Witt Jr., who has come through for this team countless times. It's magnified when he doesn’t because the expectation is for him to be superhuman, but there will be many more opportunities for Witt to do what he does.

3. Outs on the bases

Before Sunday’s game, Quatraro called the Royals’ baserunning a “mixed bag” to start the season, with some positives and some mistakes to clean up. Add one more from the series finale. Jonathan India walked with two outs in the eighth and exited for pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert, who was picked off and caught stealing to end any threat the Royals might have had. The pitcher was lefty Angel Zerpa, who has a good pickoff move and irregular timing that the Royals are familiar with after they traded him away this offseason.

“It’s a tough situation for Tyler,” Quatraro said. “Even if he guesses right, it’s going to be a bang-bang play, and we know that. But we’re down by a run there, and we have to take a chance. Otherwise, you’re banking on a double or getting multiple hits. That's what he’s there for. The whole ballpark knows that’s what he’s there for.”

It was the second out on the bases of the game and fifth of the series for Kansas City. The other one Sunday came in third, when Witt was thrown out at home on Pasquantino’s single to right field, but the Royals didn’t have any problem with that send.

“Fastest guy in baseball, and the guy makes a throw right on the money,” Quatraro said.