Royals swept by Orioles as offense struggles again in 6-0 loss

The Royals were hitting everything in June and July.

Only three American League teams scored more runs than the Royals from June 1 to July 31.

And to top that, they began August against the second worst pitching staff in baseball.

Yet, in their three games against the Orioles staff, the Royals scored just three runs.

And they happened to lose all three games.

After falling victim to Ubaldo Jimenez and Dylan Bundy in the first two contests, Jeremy Hellickson took the Royals bats captive tonight in the Orioles 6-0 sweep-completing win.

Hellickson went seven shutout innings in his Orioles debut, striking out three and surrendering just five hits.

The Orioles scored the first three runs of the game in the second frame, with Trey Mancini leading off the inning with a single and being driven in by Tim Beckham, another new Oriole.

Two batters later, Caleb Joseph took Jason Vargas deep to boost the Orioles lead to 3-0.

The Royals mustered together few threats, with just three baserunners finding their way into scoring position.

Their best chance at scoring came in the 6th, when Melky Cabrera led off with a walk and moved to third on a Eric Hosmer double.

However, as has happened at least three times over the last two series, the Royals were unable to get a runner home from third with nobody out.

Salvador Perez popped out to Hellickson and Mike Moustakas struck out, leaving it up to Jorge Bonifacio to pick them up with a two-out hit.

He grounded out softly to first base to end the inning.

Jason Vargas was serviceable, giving up just four hits and striking out six Orioles in his five innings of work. Three of those four hits came in Baltimore’s three-run 2nd.

Brandon Maurer struggled in the 8th, giving up three runs on a Chris Davis double and a Beckham triple, to add insult to injury.

The Royals were shut down with a wimper in the 9th against Darren O’day. After their 6th inning threat, Kansas City was shut down over the final three innings by Hellickson and the not-as-terrible-as-their-starting-rotation Orioles bullpen, who didn’t surrender surrender a hit past the 6th.

It was a loud wimper, however, with Moustakas and Ned Yost being tossed with two outs in the ninth after Moose was called out on strikes.

The shutout was also the first time the Royals had failed to score a run in a game since July 15 against Texas.

This was an ugly series and the next series is a big one. Hopefully it will be better. Be loud, Kauffman.

Up Next: Kansas City Royals v. Seattle Mariners, Thursday, August 3, 2017, 7:15 PM CDT, Kauffman Stadium. RHP Yovani Gallardo (5-7, 5.34 ERA) v. RHP Trevor Cahill (4-3, 4.15 ERA)