{"id":2442751,"date":"2026-06-03T07:23:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2442751"},"modified":"2026-06-03T07:23:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:23:22","slug":"royals-cant-hold-lead-as-reds-earn-4-3-walk-off-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-cant-hold-lead-as-reds-earn-4-3-walk-off-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals can\u2019t hold lead as Reds earn 4-3 walk-off victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Kansas City Royals have searched for ways to ignite their offense.<\/p>\n

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They might\u2019ve found a potential spark on Tuesday in Cincinnati … although it was washed away in a 4-3 loss to the Reds<\/a> in 10 innings at Great American Ball Park.<\/p>\n

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The Royals utilized a small-ball approach in the fourth inning and it led to a 3-0 lead. Starting pitcher Noah Cameron was brilliant, too, save for a solo home run \u2014 he struck out eight batters in seven innings of one-hit baseball.<\/p>\n

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One day after Kansas City succeeded in halting a six-game losing streak, the bullpen was the culprit again. Handed a 3-2 lead in the ninth, closer Lucas Erceg gave up a tying home run to pinch-hitter Will Benson.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDidn\u2019t execute the pitch I wanted,\u201d Erceg told reporters in Cincinnati. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t necessarily the wrong pitch, but location is what inevitably always gets you. … Things have been going horrible for me. I feel bad for the guys because it\u2019s been a little bit of a tough season so far for us. We expect better, and I expect better for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It was Erceg\u2019s third consecutive blown save, following one at home against the New York Yankees on May 25 and another on the road<\/a> against the Texas Rangers on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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In the 10th inning against the Reds on Tuesday, with Spencer Steer at second base to begin the inning, Reds outfielder Blake Dunn hit an RBI single off right-hander John Schreiber to win it.<\/p>\n

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Schreiber had come on to relieve Erceg and took the loss in relief.<\/p>\n

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The Royals fell to 23-38. They will seek a road series victory on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

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Cincinnati improved to 31-29.<\/p>\n

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Royals\u2019 offense strikes early<\/h2>\n

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Royals captain Salvador Perez began the visitors\u2019 big fourth inning with a leadoff single.<\/p>\n

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Starling Marte moved him over with a bunt single. This led to a run-scoring opportunity and Jac Caglianone recorded an RBI groundout.<\/p>\n

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Two batters later, Michael Massey worked a lengthy at-bat, fouling off several offerings. He battled Reds starter Andrew Abbott across nine pitches before swatting a two-run single up the middle.<\/p>\n

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Since April 21, Massey is hitting .277 with five homers and 16 RBIs.<\/p>\n

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Abbott labored in the fourth inning. He threw 31 pitches and was charged with all three runs as the Royals sent nine batters to the plate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a productive inning,\u201d Royals manager Matt Quatraro said in Cincinnati. \u201cMassey\u2019s at-bat was incredible. It might\u2019ve been a nine or 10-pitch at-bat, single up the middle against a lefty. Obviously, put us in a good spot at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Prior to Tuesday\u2019s action, KC was just 2-13 against left-handed starting pitchers. Abbott settled for a no-decision after allowing four walks across 105 pitches.<\/p>\n

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Career night for Noah Cameron<\/h2>\n

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Royals starter Noah Cameron had a career night on the road.<\/p>\n

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He retired 21 of 22 batters he faced and kept the Reds off the scoreboard \u2014 minus one mistake.<\/p>\n

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Cameron\u2019s seven innings tied his career high and he struck out eight. He didn\u2019t allow a walk and threw 67 of 81 pitches for strikes. Steer\u2019s solo homer came in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a phenomenal outing from him,\u201d Quatraro said of Cameron. \u201cOne hit, one homer and seven strong. Of course, I thought it was as good as you could ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Per Baseball Savant, Cameron registered 44 swings and 17 called strikes. He evenly distributed his two fastballs and off-speed pitches. And his curveball was effective, as it generated four whiffs on five swings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s the first time he has gone seven this year,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cHe was in control, but we thought that was the right time to get him out (of the game) with the guys we have available.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Royals\u2019 bullpen was shaky before Erceg served up the game-tying homer that sent it to extras. Steer belted his second homer of the night in the eighth off KC left-hander Matt Strahm.<\/p>\n

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The Royals left the go-ahead run stranded in the 10th and Cincinnati took advantage for the comeback victory. The Royals suffered another crushing defeat and are now 16-15 in 2026 when their pitcher tosses a quality start.<\/p>\n

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Royals\u2019 roster updates<\/h2>\n

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The Royals recalled right-handed pitcher Beck Way from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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Way had a 4.50 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 30 minor-league innings. He was acquired from the Yankees in 2022 \u2014 he was involved in the trade that sent Andrew Benintendi to New York at the MLB deadline.<\/p>\n

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In a corresponding move Tuesday, the Royals optioned Eli Morgan to the minors.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s next:<\/b> Right-hander Stephen Kolek (3-1, 3.48 ERA) will start Wednesday\u2019s series finale against Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. He will oppose Reds veteran RHP Chris Paddack (0-7, 6.90 ERA), with first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. Central Time.<\/p>\n

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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 9:24 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kansas City Royals have searched for ways to ignite their offense. They might\u2019ve found a potential spark on Tuesday in Cincinnati … although it was washed away in a 4-3 loss to the Reds in 10 innings at Great American Ball Park. The Royals utilized a small-ball approach in the fourth inning and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2395777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2442751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/KC-Royals-snap-4-game-win-streak-in-5-2-loss-to.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2442752,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442751\/revisions\/2442752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}