Sloppy play leads to 6-4 Royals loss

The Royals had mental and physical miscues all day.

A five-run first inning was too much to overcome for the Royals in a sloppy 6-4 loss to the Rockies on Saturday afternoon. Daniel Lynch labored in the first inning, but was not helped by errors and miscues by his defenders.

Lynch hit the first batter of the game, but had a chance to erase it with a potential double-play grounder. But Bobby Witt Jr. was unable to make the play, and things escalated from there. Ryan McMahon and Randal Grichuk each hit RBI singles. Elehuris Montero blooped one down the right field line that MJ Melendez misplayed into a triple, allowing both runners to score. After a sacrifice fly made it 5-0, Lynch was finally able to escape the inning with a strikeout.

The Royals immediately got one run back on a solo home run by Nick Pratto, his third of the game.

They had two baseunners after that, then two the next inning, but were unable to cash them in for more runs. Maikel Garcia singled home a run in the third, but the Royals lost a chance to get more when Bobby Witt Jr. was picked off third early in the inning, and Edward Olivares fouled out, stranding two runners on base.

Lynch settled down after his rough first inning and managed to get through five innings, striking out seven with one walk and giving up just the five runs - three of which were earned. He threw 95 pitches with 67 strikes, getting 14 whiffs.

The Rockies plated another run in the sixth when Josh Staumont was unable to locate the strike zone. He walked two hitters before giving up an RBI single to Jurickson Profar to make it 6-2. Staumont walked it loaded, but induced Elias Diaz to hit a ground ball to Vinnie Pasquantino. He threw home to get the force out at home and the Royals looked to have an inning-ending double play when Salvy threw to third and seemingly caught baserunner Charlie Blackmon napping, but the Royals botched the rundown when no one covered second base, another miscue on the day.

The Royals got another run back in the eighth when Drew Waters singled home a run to make it 6-3. But pinch-hitter Michael Massey flied out against Justin Lawrence to end the threat. The Royals did add a run in the ninth when Bobby Witt Jr. collected his third hit of the day and Rockies second baseman Alan Trejo lost a Salvy pop up to score Witt. But Melendez grounded into a force out to end the game.

The Royals fall to 17-41 and will try to avoid a sweep tomorrow afternoon with Brady Singer on the hill against Kyle Freeland at 1:10 CT.