Royals drop game, series to Rockies 3-1 as the bats continue to slumber

Bobby ran into another bad out, too.

Stop me if you heard this one before. Facing a left-handed pitcher without much of a track record of recent success, the offense avoided strikeouts, got a few hits, but couldn’t get any kind of rallies going as they dropped a game by two runs to the Rockies in Colorado even with two runners reaching in the ninth inning.

Seth Lugo wasn’t as dominant in this one as he was against the Guardians on Sunday, but he still pitched plenty well enough for a win. He allowed three runs, two earned, in six innings of work. It was his 15th quality start out of 19. Josh Vernier shared this depressing stat following the loss:

The offense went a truly awful 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. The bullpen can’t even be blamed for this one as Chris Stratton and Sam Long each contributed a scoreless inning. The blame rests squarely on the bats. Vinnie Pasquantino contributed the only run and RBI as he drove himself in with a sixth-inning solo home run with two outs. Hunter Renfroe also had three hits, including a double, the only other extra-base hit.

Boston lost, so the Royals missed an opportunity to close the gap back with them. The Guardians and Twins each won so the Royals fell further behind each of them. The Astros also lost, so the Royals maintain their one-game lead over them for the first loser in the AL.

I don’t know what to tell you about this team. We all knew they were probably playing over their heads at the start of the season, but I wasn’t alone in thinking that even as they came closer to earth they’d still be a very good team capable of winning lots of games behind a good rotation and a streaky but sometimes dominant lineup.

Baseball-Reference’s Simple Rating System still thinks the Royals are tied for the fourth-best team in the AL and tied for the seventh-best team in the Majors. But that is cold comfort as they drop their second series in a row as well as their third game in a row and fourth of their last five.

The Royals can avoid a sweep tomorrow before an off-day on Monday. If they’re going to do so, it will be behind Brady Singer and against a right-hander making his major league debut, Tanner Gordon. He has a 5.35 ERA in the PCL, this year, so the Royals are likely doomed. The game will start at 2:10 Central.