CINCINNATI -- His manager knew it and his teammates felt it. Noah Cameron deserved better Tuesday night. But in a season filled with frustrating losses, the 4-3, 10-inning setback against the Reds at Great American Ball Park was unfortunately highly reflective of the way things have gone for the Royals.
Even when their starting pitcher was nearly perfect.
Cameron allowed just one hit -- a Spencer Steer home run -- and one run, matching career highs in both innings (seven) and strikeouts (eight). But the lefty was pulled after only 87 pitches, and the Royals' bullpen couldn’t preserve a 3-1 lead.
“Just attacked all day,” Cameron said. “Probably my best outing, I'd say, career-wise. Just being ahead in counts, attacking hitters, a lot of weak contact, great defense. Yeah, just a really good day, obviously. And the home run happens. One bad pitch today, but yeah, did well, just attacking guys.”
“That was a phenomenal outing from him, one hit, one homer,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Seven strong. Of course, that was about as good as you could ask for.”
With the Royals up, 3-1, and Cameron still cruising after seven frames, why the decision to pull him?
“That's the first time he's gone seven this year,” Quatraro said. “He was in control, but we thought that was the right time to get him out with the guys we had available. … Everything goes through your mind in that situation. Steer was coming up again that next inning. He had not gone up for an eighth inning yet this year, or a seventh for that matter. So all of those things factor in, and again, the guys we have available, as well.”
“If it wasn’t for Steer for a while, we had nothing. Their guy was kind of carving us up,” Reds manager Terry Francona said.
Matt Strahm, who came on in relief of Cameron, surrendered Steer’s second homer of the night and Lucas Erceg yielded the game-tying blast to pinch-hitter Will Benson in the ninth on another changeup. It was Erceg’s sixth blown save in 17 chances. The silver lining was getting out of a first-and-second situation by striking out Steer and sending the game to extras.
“I didn't execute the pitch I wanted,” Erceg said. “Wasn't necessarily the wrong pitch, just location is what inevitably always gets you. But I think the difference between tonight's outing and my previous few is that I let go of the weight of the situation, and told myself, ‘Hey, we're still in this game, try and battle back, show the team that there's still a little bit of intent to win.’
“Yeah, things have been going horrible for me. I feel bad for the guys, because it's been a little bit of a tough season so far for us, and we expect better, and I expect better of myself.”
When Blake Dunn singled off John Schreiber with one out in the 10th, automatic runner Steer crossed with the winning run and sent the Royals to their seventh loss in eight games and their 19th in 25.
Michael Massey drove in a pair during a three-run fourth as the Royals took a 3-0 lead, and that looked like more than enough with the way Cameron was pitching.
Massey's nine-pitch at-bat against Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott was the sequence of the game for the Royals, as he battled and battled, fouling off four straight offerings from the left-hander before singling sharply up the middle, beyond the diving Edwin Arroyo to plate Starling Marte and Nick Loftin.
“It was a productive inning, Massey's at-bat was incredible,” Quatraro said. “It [was] a nine-pitch at-bat, single up the middle against the lefty, so obviously put us in a good spot at that point.”
Cameron meanwhile, was perfect through four and fanned Eugenio Suárez to open the fifth before he made his only costly mistake, an 81 mph changeup that the southpaw left belt high to Steer. The Cincinnati left fielder launched it a Statcast-projected 420 feet to the seats in left-center for his eighth homer of the season, the first home run allowed by Cameron in 37 2/3 innings.
Kansas City was three outs from its second straight win in the new month after losing six straight to end May. It would’ve meant consecutive wins for the first time since May 23-24 against Seattle, and the Royals would’ve celebrated back-to-back road wins for the first time since May 1-3, when they swept the Mariners in Seattle.
“It’s a tough loss,” Quatraro said. “There's no question about it, but the best thing is to have another shot at it [Wednesday]. These guys are resilient, and we'll come out and give it our best.”