The Royals wasted opportunity after opportunity all night until, finally, they didn’t. Carter Jensen got his first walk-off hit as a Royal with a two-run single in the bottom of the tenth to give the Royals a 7-6 victory.
Seth Lugo had a really good bounce-back start tonight. He only struck out 3 while walking 2, but he also allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings. His first quality start since July 1st, and only his second since June. He gave up some hard contact in the first inning, starting things off by giving Jac Caglianone a home run-robbing opportunity (successful) in right, followed immediately by a leaping grab by Isaac Collins in left. As funny as it was to see the difference in how high the two guys can get when leaping, it was a bit scary for how the game would go.
Lane Thomas gave the Royals an early lead with the longest home run of his career leading off the bottom of the second.
The Royals wasted a further opportunity when Salvador Perez was hit by a pitch and Michael Massey singled. In the bottom of the third, Carter Jensen led off with a double and the Royals couldn’t advance him.
In the top of the fifth, the Padres got runners at second and third with one out, and the Royals chose to bring the infield in. Lugo did exactly what he wanted, forcing a groundball to second, but it clanged off of Massey’s glove into center to allow both runs to score and the Padres to take the lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Thomas led off again and singled to left. Vinnie Pasquantino drew a walk, and with runners on first and second, Salvador Perez hit a routine groundball to Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. Bogaerts double-clutched and then threw the ball into the outfield. That allowed Thomas to score and Vinnie to advance to third. But with runners at first and third, Massey struck out, and Nick Loftin gave them another double play opportunity that they didn’t screw up. Still, the game was tied.
It remained that way even after Steven Cruz pitched the seventh and John Schreiber pitched the eighth. Then Jac Caglianone led off the bottom of the inning with a single to right. Tyler Tolbert immediately pinch ran for him and then stole second, making sure to keep his hand on the bag at all times. Lane Thomas grounded to second, sending Thomas to third, and all Vinnie needed to do was get the ball in the air. Unfortunately, he hit a dribbler back to Adrian Morejon. The contact play was on, and despite Tolbert’s attempt to deek Morejon, he was thrown out at home. But the Royals weren’t done there.
Vinnie stole his fourth bag of the year, which led to a weird sequence where Morejon threw a strike to Salvy before the Padres decided to intentionally walk him and face the lefty, Massey. Massey watched two 100+ MPH sinkers to get down two strikes, but he wasn’t watching the third.
Alex Lange-xiety came on for the ninth inning and got two outs before, who else, Ty France whacked a game-tying home run.
The Royals weren’t done wasting opportunities, either. In the bottom of the ninth, the Padres went to Mason Miller. Miller is so good as a reliever that there was some buzz early in the year about him winning the Cy Young award. That seems unlikely as long as The Mis stays healthy for the remainder of the year, but he’ll get some votes. He came into the game with an ERA under 1.00, 2.5 fWAR as a reliever midway through the season, and he had struck out 72 in 49.2 innings – nearly 2 batters per inning!
Isaac Collins doinked a single just on the line in left field, then Carter Jensen ripped a double off the base of the wall in right. Miller intentionally walked Bobby to get to Tyler Tolbert, so the Royals pinch-hit Josh Rojas. He struck out. Lane Thomas struck out. Vinnie Pasquantino struck out.
In the top of the tenth, Matt Quatraro looked at his rogues’ gallery of a bullpen and, perhaps at random, chose Lucas Erceg to try to preserve the tie. Coming into the inning, the Padres had not gotten a hit with a runner in scoring position. Most Royals fans, I think, knew that was about to end.
Erceg got some awkward swings from Miguel Andujar on sliders away, but eventually gave up a double bouncing down the first base line to give the Padres a lead they would not relinquish. To no one’s surprise, the pain didn’t end there. Erceg bobbled a Sung-Mun Song sacrifice bunt attempt into runners at first and third with no outs. Fernando Tatis Jr. smoked a single over the drawn-in infield to drive in another run with Song running to third. Song scored on a sacrifice fly by Bogaerts to give us our final score.
By rule, the Royals were set to send three batters up in the bottom of the tenth, even though everyone knew the game was over. The Padres knew it so well that they sent Kyle Hart – with a career 6.78 ERA – to earn his first career big league save.
Salvy managed to get one off the end of his bat into left to send Vinnie to third while Salvy went to first. Michael Massey got an infield single to give the Royals a pity run, but surely that would be the end. Nick Loftin attempted to bunt the tying run into scoring position, but his bunt was too good, and Kyle Hart made the mistake of fielding the ball. It seemed like it might go foul, but it definitely never had a chance of being an out. Collins went to the plate with the bases loaded and the tying run at second. He hit a slow roller to the right side, and the Padres could only get one out; the Royals had gotten the game within one for Carter Jensen. I was already telling my dad about how the Padres would walk Bobby again after they got Carter out to face Rojas and finish the game.
Carter watched a sinker down the middle and then swung at another, hitting a soft roller into left past the diving Bogaerts. It was a good thing the ball was hit so softly because it allowed Loftin to score the winning run from second.
Lucas Erceg gets an undeserved win, Seth Lugo and Mason Miller get nothing for their hard work. Alex Lange got his first blown save as a Royal. As noted at the top, Carter got his first walk-off hit. The Royals were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position heading into the bottom of the tenth. They finished the night 5-for-20. It was one of the more improbable wins the Royals have ever earned. Perhaps the most improbable of this disappointing year.
The Royals can get a series victory tomorrow afternoon. Griffin Canning will pitch for the Padres; the Royals still have TBD as of this writing. It won’t be Stephen Kolek as the Royals want him to make a rehab start before returning to the big league club following his extended absence on the family medical emergency list. The game will start at 3:10 PM Central. See you then.
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