KANSAS CITY -- Just as quickly as the Royals seemed to have figured out Eduardo Rodriguez, he was shutting them down again.
The Tigers starter dominated for most of his seven-inning outing Wednesday night, allowing just two runs while striking out seven Royals in their 3-2 loss at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals have alternated wins and losses over their past five games and still have yet to win three in a row this season, which perhaps makes the one-run losses on Monday and Wednesday this week even more frustrating. The Royals suffered their Majors-worst 34th blown-lead loss of the season, two shy of their total from last year and 19 shy of the franchise's highest total (53 in 2019).
Rodriguez retired the first 13 batters he faced before Matt Duffy lined a base hit up the middle with one out in the fifth inning. Two pitches later, Michael Massey snapped an 0-for-13 skid when he pulled a pitch to the right-field corner for a game-tying double -- his first hit of the second half -- and Kyle Isbel followed two batters later with a go-ahead double.
“Freedom,” Massey said of what he felt when Duffy broke up the no-hit bid. “Not fun to get no-hit through a couple innings. Thought we had some good swings on [Rodriguez]. … His fastball was playing above what the velo was.”
Those were three of the Royals’ five hits on the night. The rest of the way, they searched for a way to get to Rodriguez again and squandered opportunities. He retired the side in the sixth and worked around two baserunners in the seventh, when Duffy was hit by a pitch and Waters lined a two-out knock.
The Royals whiffed 15 times against Rodriguez, including eight against his fastball, two against his slider and three against his changeup.
"My pitches were working right where I wanted,” Rodriguez said. “No matter what team it is, if you throw strikes, they're going to swing. That's the way I see it. It can be the team that swings the most or the one that doesn't swing. If you throw strikes, you're going to make them swing at the ball."
The Royals’ lead after the fifth was gone within minutes. Lefty starter Ryan Yarbrough allowed a leadoff double in the sixth, followed by a one-out, game-tying single. Both hits were from left-handed hitters -- Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, respectively.
Two batters later, Yarbrough suffered a left hamstring cramp while facing Javier Báez, and Carlos Hernandez -- whom manager Matt Quatraro wanted to stay away from Wednesday since he had pitched the last two days -- allowed the go-ahead knock to Miguel Cabrera before getting out of the inning.
“It’s going to leave a bad taste in your mouth how you finish, especially when you feel like you’re being really efficient,” Yarbrough said. “... Especially when you get a lead right there in the sixth, and then with two lefties up -- which, as a left-handed pitcher, you’re told to really make sure to get lefties out, so that’s a good spot for me to be in. Made some stupid pitches. Definitely a spot where I put that on myself.”
Kansas City had the tying run on first when Massey walked in the ninth against Tigers closer Alex Lange, and when Waters lined a pitch to center field, Massey was off and running. But third base coach Vance Wilson held Massey up at third when Báez received the ball in the infield.
Isbel struck out on three straight pitches to end the game.
“I was thinking the whole way, obviously with two outs there, I knew we were going to try to gamble,” Massey said. “I was trying to pick up Vance as early as I could. He made the right decision, obviously. You turn around and Báez had the ball. He’s got a pretty good arm, he’s at a pretty shallow spot in the diamond.”
The Royals can’t seem to get any momentum going with their offense on back-to-back days so far in the second half. One night, like Sunday or Tuesday when they scored a combined 19 runs, they’re showing the potential for what this young lineup can do with speed and power.
The next night, like Monday or Wednesday, they’re baffled at the plate again.
“Like we talk about all the time, there are no guarantees -- you have to put that work in, put that belief in to get in there and make it happen tomorrow,” Quatraro said.