Royals relievers ruin Ragans’s ruby, rupture 4-3

The bullpen collapsed late.

In a game delayed over five hours by rain, the Kansas City Royals led for most of the game before collapsing in the eighth and ninth innings as the Baltimore Orioles rallied for a 4-3 walk-off victory.

The Royals wasted little time in getting the party started. After Maikel Garcia went down on strikes, Bobby Witt Jr. roped a double and soon advanced to third on a wild pitch. Vinnie Pasquantino worked the count 3-2 before hitting one right back to Burnes. Witt ran on the play and was caught in a pickle, but he managed to stay in the rundown long enough for Pasquantino to get to third base. This proved crucial as Salvador Perez followed by blooping one just over the shortstop to give the Royals a run. Kansas City had a chance for more when MJ Melendez hit a Jorge Mateo-assisted double, but Hunter Renfroe went down looking to end the threat.

Kansas City tacked on another in the third when Witt led off the frame with a single, swiped second on an excellent jump, then came around to score on Perez’s second hit of the evening. Salvy was able to get to second after Ryan Mountcastle sailed a throw to second on a Melendez groundout. Renfroe followed that by getting off the schneid with his first hit as a Royal, a single that got to Austin Hays too quickly for Perez to score. Adam Frazier grounded out to end the threat.

Outside of those two innings, Burnes was solid enough, allowing just the two runs in 5.2 innings. He allowed nine hits, however, and only punched out three. His counterpart, meanwhile, absolutely carved. Against an Orioles lineup that featured just one left-handed batter, Ragans attacked with a heavy diet of fastballs and changeups, to great effect. Through six innings, an Adley Rutschman double was the lone blemish. Ragans appeared to run out of gas in the seventh, walking Rutschman and Mountcastle to start the inning. He bounced back to strike out Anthony Santander before being pulled. James McArthur entered and managed to escape the jam thanks in part to a stellar defensive play by Witt.

Thanks to a seventh inning Garcia oppo taco, Kansas City entered the eighth with a 3-0 lead. That’s when things got hairy. Pinch-hitter Colton Cowser led off the inning with a knock and James McCann followed with a double. Cowser would later score on a Gunnar Henderson sac fly and McCann would come around himself on a knock from Rutschman. The Royals at least managed to end the threat when Renfroe gunned down Rutschman trying to stretch a single into a double.

After the Royals went down in order in the ninth, Will Smith entered the game to try to slam the door with a 3-2 lead. He promptly walked Mountcastle on four pitches and gave up a hard knock to Santander. Jordan Westburg bunted the runners over, putting the winning run on second. Smith managed to punch out Cowser for the second out, but he was unable to finish the job. He served a meatball to McCann that was begging to be hit and McCann obliged him, ripping it to left field to bring two runs home, giving Baltimore a walk-off 4-3 victory.

Some nuggets:

• Orioles batters managed a comically low average exit velocity of 80.1 mph against Ragans, with just one hard-hit ball.
• Garcia’s seventh inning homer was his third of the season. He did not hit his third home run in 2023 until July 3.
• The Royals bullpen is off to an inauspicious start, with the team’s relievers collectively posting an 8.04 ERA in 15.2 innings this season.

The loss drops the Royals to 2-4. They will head back to Kansas City for a four-game set against the Chicago White Sox starting tomorrow.

Cole Ragans: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 0 HR

Corbin Burnes: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0 HR

Salvador Perez: 3-4, 2 RBI

James McCann: 2-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI