WEST SACRAMENTO – The Royals and A’s have traded big hits in the first two games of this series at Sutter Health Park, and that sets up an important rubber match Thursday. And the Royals will face not just the question of whether they can get out of West Sacramento with a series win, but also whether they can end a rough April with a win.
Bobby Witt Jr.’s three-run home run led them to a series-opening win on Tuesday, but A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler’s three-run shot Wednesday handed the Royals a 5-2 loss, snapping their four-game win streak.
This is what stood out the most in the loss:
105 in 5
We saw it Tuesday with Royals starter Kris Bubic, who needed 96 pitches in five innings. On Wednesday, starter Michael Wacha needed 105 pitches to get through five innings.
The A’s don’t give many at-bats away.
“Just the ability to foul off pitches,” Wacha said. “They didn’t chase a lot tonight. Thought I was executing some decent pitches to the corners and just off, some strike-to-ball type stuff. They were laying off of them. Credit to them. You have to keep going and make pitches in the zone, over the plate and get them out that way.”
That all led to Wacha issuing four walks and allowing eight hits, generating a ton of traffic on the bases that he said he needs to “be able to control a little bit better.”
In the fourth, the A’s had runners on second and third with one out. Wacha had Butler in a two-strike count and intended to bury a slider looking for a punchout. Instead, the slider missed up and Butler didn’t miss it. Three of the four runs Wacha allowed came on that swing.
“It’s pitch after pitch that you got to execute and got to command,” Wacha said. “Credit to those guys. They were able to find some holes, get a lot of hits and then come through with the big one.”
Freak run and done
Entering Wednesday, the Royals had scored just two runs in the first inning this year. So scratching one across at the top of Wednesday’s game seemed like a good way to kickstart the offense, especially with a wacky play. With Witt on third and Carter Jensen on first, Salvador Perez hit what looked like a routine popup to A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson, only for Wilson to miss the catch. Witt broke for home as the A’s got the out at second, but Witt was too fast for a double play, even on a less than graceful slide.
“There’s no sun, so I don’t know if he was deking it,” Witt said. “I just saw it drop, and I had a nice face plant at home.”
Instead of adding on, the Royals sputtered.
Luis Severino was lights out, and even the opportunities the Royals had were fleeting. Lane Thomas singled with two outs in the second, but was picked off at first base. Jac Caglianone drew a walk in the fifth but was hit by the ball on Kyle Isbel’s single, ending the frame.
“Trying to stay on the fastball, but he didn’t miss a lot of locations,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Sometimes, there’s not a whole lot you can do differently. The big spot there, you’re just trying to make him bring it back to the middle. But when you don’t make a lot of mistakes, it’s hard to do.”
The Royals were fooled by Severino’s sweeper, whiffing just twice against it but seeing seven called strikes on the pitch. They had a hard time catching up to that fastball, whiffing seven times on 16 swings.
The Royals entered Wednesday having scored 2.6 runs per game in 13 road games, which ranked as the lowest mark in the Majors, and their 14th game was right in line with that average. They’ve scored four runs or fewer in 13 of their 14 road games.
How they respond
Sometimes a loss is just a loss. That’s what Wednesday night seemed like for the Royals, so long as they don’t let it carry into the next few games.
With the start the Royals have endured at 12-18, there’s not a ton of margin for error, even 30 games into the season if they want to keep climbing up in the standings and toward a better record.
Luckily for them, the 12:05 p.m. PT series finale on Thursday is about as quick of a turnaround as a team can get after a loss.
“You got to win it,” Witt said. “That’s our goal. Win every game, but then also win every series and go from there.”