Royals swept in Minnesota, lose 3-0

Brad Keller pitched well, but the offense was silent on Sunday afternoon for the Royals. The end result was another loss, 3-0 to the Minnesota Twins, and a three-game sweep.

Nobody did anything through five innings. But in the sixth, the Twins struck on a sacrifice fly by Eddie Rosario, despite the fact that Jorge Soler made a tremendous diving catch in right field. The next inning, Jason Castro swatted a solo homer just over the center field wall to make it 2-0.

Also, Scott Barlow came in and did what he does best, which is give up additional runs. Minnesota scored one in the eighth and another nearly scored, but Cheslor Cuthbert threw Nelson Cruz out at home. Barlow’s ERA, once 1.77 on May 14, is now 5.70.

The Royals, as a team, managed two hits. They were facing a pitcher that was just called up today, Devin Smeltzer, who had started exactly four major league games prior to Sunday.

This is one of the shorter recaps I’ve done, but I literally don’t know what to say about the offense. Alex Gordon hit a single. Nicky Lopez hit one too. Gordon also walked. That’s the end of the highlights.

Keller was really good overall, despite the two late runs. He threw 7.0 innings and only allowed five hits, striking out seven and needing 98 pitches to get his 21 outs. His ERA dropped back under 4.00. He’s 7-11 on the year.

Ryan Lefebvre was all “wow, all the Royals and Twins do is play close games!” at one point in the broadcast. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, because the Royals are now 3-9 against Minnesota this year. It’s great the games are close and all Ryan, and I get that you’re running out of things to be positive about, but... whatever.

The Royals are 40-73. They started the second half of the year 9-3. They’re 1-9 since. Next, they’ll head to Boston for three at Fenway.