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At least Brandon Finnegan looked all right.
That's the extent of the good things to be taken from today's game.
As Jeremy Guthrie does, he pitched to contact. Unfortunately, the contact today was of the hard variety. In the laughable bandbox that is Yankee Stadium with a flyball pitcher like Guthrie, hard contact is a bad thing. Guthrie gave up four home runs. In one-plus inning. Sure, two of them would have been likely outs in Kansas City. Two of them wouldn't have been in any park. Guthrie gave up eight earned runs thanks to three home runs in the first inning. Having already imploded and dug a hole to rival the Big Dig, Guthrie was sent back out in the second in the hopes of eating some more innings in what was likely a lost game. Three batters and a hung dong later, Guthrie was mercifully sent to the dugout with Ned Yost looking to the bullpen to the just recalled Brandon Finnegan.
How bad was Guthrie's start? Let's turn to Jeff Passan.
Jeremy Guthrie is only the second starting pitcher in baseball history to give up 11 earned runs in one inning or fewer.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 25, 2015
By any measure, today's start from Jeremy Guthrie is one of the 50 worst in baseball history. His Game Score of -11 is tied for 32nd worst.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 25, 2015
At least there was Luke Hudson.
Jeremy Guthrie's 8-run 1st-inning disaster is not the worst ever from a Royal. In 2006, the immortal Luke Hudson allowed 10 and got one out.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 25, 2015
Sending Guthrie to the mound in Yankee Stadium had disaster written all over it. It was his turn in the rotation, of course, and such eventualities are difficult to avoid. Juggling the rotation to get Guthrie pitching in Kauffman on short rest yesterday and Ventura in the Bronx today might have been preferable, but that's generally not done in baseball despite the sliver of sense it might have made.
Other than rekindling doubts as to Guthrie's long-term prospects of staying in the rotation, there is not a lot to take from this game. The Royals went to the bench early, giving Lorenzo Cain half a day off by inserting Jarrod Dyson into the lineup as a defensive replacement in the fourth inning. The Royals offense waited until the fifth inning to get started against Yankee starter Nathan Eovaldi. Thanks to a beneficial carom on an attempted diving catch, Alcides Escobar had a one-out double in the fifth. One out later, Jarrod Dyson blooped a single to shallow center--his first hit in 16 at-bats--driving in Escobar. Dyson promptly attempted a steal of second and was eventually ruled out upon successful challenge on what was initially ruled a stolen base.
Franklin Morales eventually gave up a run in the fifth, putting the Yankees at an even dozen.
In the sixth, the Royals adopted a strange defensive alignment of Orlando, Dyson, and Hosmer in the outfield, left-to-right. Salvador Perez entered and took Hosmer's place at first because why not? That alignment meant there was a lazy fly that Hosmer never really saw that somehow landed between Hosmer, Christian Colon, and Jarrod Dyson despite being catchable for all three in a moment that would lead one to believe that perhaps he or she was watching the 2002 Royals.
In garbage time, Greg Holland made his first appearance since May 14th. He gave up a two-run home run to Slade Heathcott, recorded one out, walked two, and gave way to Jason Frasor.
Nearly nothing went right for the Royals.
It was a 14-1 loss. There's not much more to be said about such a dismal game.