Royals can’t score more runs than the Cardinals, lose; get swept

Well. That series happened, and if it’s any consolation, it’s over with. Now on to Chicago to face the White Sox (who have won two of three against the Astros and are tied as of this writing).

Not much left to write about from what we’ve already seen before this series. The Royals made some errors, the starting pitching couldn’t go very deep, the overworked bullpen gave up some runs, and back-to-back nights with a late grand slam allowed to put the game away.

The Royals jumped out early to a 3-0 lead, but a disaster 6th inning allowed the Cardinals to tie it, then in the 7th they broke it open a bit with a Dexter Fowler grand slam to make it 7-3.

Coming up in the top of the 8th the Royals made it interesting, loading the bases, and then three coming around to score (nearly tying the game with a Brandon Moss grand slam of his own). Needing a shutdown inning in the bottom of the 8th, Joakim Soria gave up a walk and then a double after getting two quick outs, giving the Cardinals a little extra cushion.

Trevor Rosenthal and his 1.81 FIP came in and despite giving up a two out single to Moustakas (in which Ned Yost curiously brought in Cheslor Cuthbert of all people to pinch run) he was able to retire Alcides Escobar and his 39 wRC+ to end the game.

Royals now fall to .500, after being a season high seven games above just last week when they strolled into Baltimore after taking two of three vs the Red Sox in Boston. However they were swept by the Orioles, split a four game series with the Mariners, and then now swept in four games against the Cardinals.

They haven’t lost much ground at all to the Indians (now sitting four games back) but three teams have passed them for the penultimate Wild Card spot, and surprisingly the Twins now sit in 2nd place in the AL Central. The nine game winning streak has been erased.