KANSAS CITY -- The inning was about as non-damaging as it could be for a pitcher in terms of the underlying metrics.
But that doesn’t quite matter when it leads to runs.
The Rays small-balled their way to a win on Wednesday night, handing the Royals a 3-0 loss at Kauffman Stadium and winning the series ahead of Thursday’s matinee. The Royals have lost four in a row and nine consecutive games at The K; they have yet to win at home in the month of June.
Over the last four games, the Royals have scored just four runs total. And Wednesday was Kansas City’s ninth shutout loss of the season.
Four have come in the last nine home games.
“Any loss is bad,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “But when you’re doing it at home -- it’s terrible to think, but I don’t remember the last time we kind of won at home. We’ve got to get our stuff right, get our stuff together and be ready to play tomorrow.”
In the top of the second inning, the Rays followed two singles with a bunt single -- in which second baseman Jonathan India failed to cover first base with Vinnie Pasquantino fielding the ball -- an infield single, a wild pitch from starter Michael Wacha and a sacrifice bunt.
It put the Royals in a three-run hole.
That seems about as large as it can be right now with the way the Royals’ offense has been going.
For his part, Wacha got through six innings and didn’t allow a run after the second. The Rays peppered him with nine singles, but he racked up nine strikeouts.
“Just the value of putting the ball in play,” Wacha said. “You can see how effective small ball can be. Those are a couple of the most perfect bunts I’ve ever seen. They were able to scratch across a few runs there, that being all they needed.”
The Royals did not find the same luck against Rays’ starter Drew Rasmussen, mustering just two hits in five scoreless innings against the right-hander.
Even after Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled Rasmussen after just 62 pitches, the Royals were shut down by Tampa Bay’s bullpen.
The opportunities the Royals did have on Wednesday were extinguished about as quickly as they appeared. Maikel Garcia singled in the first inning, and moments after a pickoff attempt hit him in the head, he got caught stealing second base.
India walked to lead off the fourth but stayed at first until Pasquantino’s two-out single. Salvador Perez followed with a first-pitch pop out in foul territory, leaning over in frustration as he watched Jonathan Aranda camp under the ball.
John Rave drew a two-out walk in the fifth inning, but Kyle Isbel rolled over a first-pitch curveball to end the inning.
“You’ve got to be ready to hit from pitch one,” Isbel said. “But it’s not necessarily just swinging to swing. It’s swinging at what you’re looking for, what you’re trying to do damage on. … That was the only pitch I got that wasn’t touching the outer box. Sometimes you got to tip your cap.”
But the list goes on. Witt doubled in the sixth, but Garcia struck out and Pasquantino flied out. Jac Caglianone walked in the seventh -- this time with only one out -- followed by strikeouts from pinch-hitter Drew Waters and Rave.
“These guys get ahead, that’s what they do,” manager Matt Quatraro said of the Rays’ pitching staff. “They have good stuff. If you want to be behind, you can take that pitch. Or you can try to do something with it. The issue is, you’ve got to square it up.
“... It’s a results-based game. Because we didn’t get the hit, it looks bad. But if somebody takes a first pitch and hits it off the wall for a double, or even a rollover base hit, everybody thinks that’s great. It doesn’t matter what pitch you hit if you do something good with it.”
After going 24-16 in their first 40 games of the season, the Royals are now 14-26 in their last 40 games. Thursday marks the official halfway point of the season.
The All-Star break is quickly approaching. The July 31 Trade Deadline is looming.
But the Royals are simply trying to get back on track -- especially at home.
“You’d like to protect your home field,” Wacha said. “But I think it’s one of those things, you can’t really put your hand on it. It’s not like we play any different style of baseball in certain different parks. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.”