Swept Again: Cardinals 8, Royals 2

The Royals lost again.

Cardinals 8, Royals 2.

It wasn’t Jake Junis’ fault, as he departed after six innings with a 2-1 lead. He shut the Cardinals down for the most part, allowing his only run on a two-out RBI single in the third inning. He struck out eight Cardinals and needed 96 pitches to get through 6 innings.

The Royals got a run early, as Rosell Herrera reached safely on an error with the bases loaded, allowing one run to score. But with the bases still loaded and only one out, Jorge Bonifacio hit into a double play to end that threat.

After St. Louis tied the contest 1-1, the Royals regained the lead in the bottom of the third when Lucas Duda scored Salvador Perez on an RBI single. Perez did a fabulous athletic maneuver to avoid Yadier Molina’s tag. But after Duda was thrown out trying to score on Herrera’s ensuing hit, the Royals’ offense never struck again.

Leading 2-1 in the seventh inning, Ned Yost relieved Junis and put Jason Hammel into the game. Because Hammel sucks, this didn’t end well. Hammel put all three men he faced on base, departing with the bases loaded and none out. All three Cardinals came around to score. Then St. Louis scored four more runs in the last two innings to win 8-2.

The last inning was kind of funny, though. Jorge Bonifacio got hit with two strikes and two outs with a 6-run deficit and everybody got mad. Yadier Molina should not be a Hall of Famer.

The Royals are 35-82, on pace to lose an MLB-record 59 home games in one year.

Next: Toronto comes into Kansas City to play a four-game series.