Anthony Volpe, Yankees look like they broke Royals’ closer Lucas Erceg

The Kansas City Royals are in the middle of a disappointing season, but Monday’s Memorial Day matinee matchup against the visiting New York Yankees had all the makings of a momentum-altering win capable of turning around KC’s campaign.

And through 8 1/3 innings at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City was sitting pretty in that regard. Royals starter Michael Wacha had pitched seven solid innings of two-run, five-hit baseball, reliever Daniel Lynch IV had taken care of business in the eighth (eight pitches, three outs), and Kansas City’s megastar, Bobby Witt Jr., had blasted a 432-foot homer off of Yankees reliever Jake Bird to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

When Royals closer Lucas Erceg retired Cody Bellinger with a groundout to begin the ninth, Kansas City fans could already taste victory. But that’s exactly when everything began to unravel for Erceg. Paul Goldschmidt and his 38-year-old legs miraculously reached on an infield single. Goldy was subbed out for pinch-runner Max Schuemann, who promptly reached third on a clutch double from Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Then came the heartbreaker for Erceg, courtesy of Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe. Ahead in the count 1-2 on Volpe (who was 0-for-2 on the day), Erceg delivered an 85-mph slider that caught too much of the strike zone, and Volpe reached out and lofted it beyond the infield and into left field for a massive pair of RBI. Forget the fact that Volpe was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double — the damage had been done. New York ended up winning the game 4-3, and after the game Erceg looked like his dog had just run away from home with no tag.

Royals closer Lucas Erceg looked like a broken man following blown save against Anthony Volpe, Yankees

Erceg’s had a rough couple of last outings. Entering Monday’s contest, he was coming off a Sunday performance in which he’d entered in the ninth inning with an 8-3 lead against the Seattle Mariners and allowed three runs before finally ending shutting things down. Monday was supposed to be a bounce-back opportunity for Erceg, but it just ended up adding insult to injury, and you could read all of that on his face during his somber, post-game clubhouse interview.

Things aren’t about to get any easier for Erceg and the Royals in the rest of this series against the Yanks. On Tuesday night, Kansas City will go up against Cam Schlittler, who has been the best starting pitcher in the American League this season. And on Wednesday night, the Royals will face Gerrit Cole, who was razor sharp in his long-awaited return from injury last week.

The Yankees, meanwhile, have to be wondering about the viability of the Volpe-José Caballero lineup that they debuted on Monday (featuring Volpe at shortstop and Caballero at third base). While the game ended heroically (thanks to Volpe), fans will have to see a lot more than just one clutch hit from Volpe to be convinced that this lineup should rear its head consistently moving forward. Nonetheless, it’s off to the best start possible.