Royals lose to Tigers, 4-2

The Royals dropped a second straight game to the Tigers tonight. That guarantees the Tigers this series with one game left and the season series with four total games remaining.

The Tigers got the scoring started with a run in the bottom of the third inning thanks to a single by number eight hitter Javy Báez and a double by number nine hitter Jake Rogers. The Royals got that run right back with a Bobby Witt single, advancing to second on a wild pitch, and a Vinnie Pasquantino double. That left Vinnie at second with no outs, but he never moved any further. Then the Tigers answered back with a Spencer Torkelson home run.

The Royals got their leadoff hitter on in the fifth, but Jonathan India was stranded at first. The Tigers then got one more run, this time it was a Zach McKinstry single, and he scored from first on a Rogers single. The Royals seemed to have a potential play at the plate against the speedy McKinstry, but Bobby badly yanked his throw up the first base line, and McKinstry was able to score easily. Bobby did make up for it in the next inning, though.

Michael Wacha, knowing the Royals badly needed some length from their starter, was left out to pitch the sixth inning. It went about as poorly as it could without any runs scoring. He walked the leadoff hitter, Gleyber Torres, before Kerry Carpenter launched one to center. Kyle Isbel made a tremendous running catch to save a run from scoring. Torkelson got a single to put two runners on, and Riley Greene laced one into the left-center gap, where Isbel made another fantastic play, this time diving to catch the ball. It was initially ruled a trap with Isbel making a heads-up play to throw out the runner at third, but the Royals successfully challenged to get Isbel the catch. Unfortunately, the result was still only one out. And that set up what seemed like it might be the at-bat of the game.

Up came Designated Hitter Dillon Dingler. What ensued was an epic 16-pitch battle where Wacha threw everything he had at Dingler, knowing this was going to be his last batter, and Dingler kept fouling off pitch after pitch. The sixteenth pitch was well outside, but the umpire rung up Dingler all the same, just in case you were wondering if the Royals were the only teams to get awful strike calls against them.

Former Royals Review writer Craig Brown has insisted throughout the years that momentum is not a thing. Jeremy Guthrie insisted during the broadcast last night that it was. This seemed to be the ultimate test of that theory. If momentum were real, surely it was all with the Royals after such a brutal inning by the Tigers’ offense. And, for a moment, it seemed like it might work out.

Adam Frazier struck out – including an egregious strike call that was perhaps some sort of makeup for the one that took out Dingler – but Jonathan India came back from 0-2 to work a walk. Randal Grichuk then laced a ball into left field to put two runners on and only one out. The Tigers went to their bullpen to bring in a lefty and, despite his spectacular defensive plays, Kyle Isbel was lifted for pinch-hitter Nick Loftin. Loftin took a ball but then swung at a pitcher’s pitch on the inside corner and was jammed, hitting into the third Royals double play of the night.

Taylor Clarke pitched a scoreless seventh, and Sam Long gave up a home run to Andy Ibañez in the bottom of the eighth to give us our final score. Will Vest got the final four outs to collect his nineteenth save of the season after Kyle Finnegan, who had taken over the closer’s role after being acquired at the deadline, pitched so many innings last night.

Many fans will take issue with manager Matt Quatraro’s moves tonight, especially the pinch-hit appearance for Loftin and the relief appearance for Sam Long.

Isbel has a career slash line of .219/.285/.285/.570 versus lefties, borne out by an even worse line of .176/.250/.216/.466 against them this season. Yes, he’s been hitting better lately, but only because Quatraro has basically stopped letting him hit against lefties. If Dingler’s at-bat against Wacha was an important at-bat to try and break open the game against KC, Loftin’s at-bat against Tyler Holton was at least equally important for the Royals trying to get back in the game. The Tigers have a good bullpen, and you have to try to get to them whenever you have even a small opportunity. As it turns out, the Royals would only have one other baserunner for the remainder of the game. Quatraro, unfortunately, had only Nick Loftin, Tyler Tolbert, and Luke Maile on his bench to try out there. I’m not sure I would have pinch-hit there, even given those numbers, but it’s an entirely defensible move. It’s just unfortunate that Loftin wasn’t a bit more patient to potentially get a better pitch to hit.

Sam Long coming into the eighth was a situation brought about by the fact that the Royals have badly burned their bullpen the last few weeks. Sure, he might have used Lucas Erceg in that inning, but Lucas hasn’t exactly been his old Lights Out self, and if you use Erceg tonight in a game you’re already losing against a team with a terrific bullpen, then you might not have him available to help hold a lead later. It’s one of those situations where a good leader may choose to sacrifice one battle in order to set himself up to better win the war. I understand that it’s frustrating, but considering the Tigers were in an excellent position to win it, the extra run given up by Long hardly mattered. Having Lucas Erceg available on another night might. Again, you might have chosen to do something different and I can see why you might, but Quatraro’s logic is at least eminently defensible.

It would have been nice if the Royals could have stolen the series from the Tigers in Detroit, but that was always going to be a long shot. It will be plenty good enough, following their excellent homestand and if they can win more games against weaker teams going forward, to simply avoid being swept. Something that hasn’t happened to the Royals since all the way back on June 26.

Seth Lugo will take the mound tomorrow against Jack Flaherty. If Lugo can capture more of the 2024 version of himself than Flaherty does, the Royals might just be able to pull it off. The game will start at 12:40 CDT, and it will be simulcast on KCTV5 and KSMO.