Singer’s pitches are off-key; Orioles parade over the Royals 8-4

Brady Singer did not have a good game. He had a 1-2-3 first inning but struggled to find the strike zone in the second inning and struggled to throw pitches anywhere but down the middle in the third. He ended up allowing the first six batters he faced in that inning to reach base before he got pulled. All but one of them scored to give the Orioles a seven-to-nothing lead. The Royals would not bring the tying run to the plate again.

Former Royal Jorge López started his night pretty well but loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning. The Royals ended up bringing all three runners home to cut the deficit to 8-4. It took a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly, and a two-out single.

There was a bright spot in tonight’s game; Kris Bubic came on in relief to start the fourth inning. He allowed a lead-off triple but only allowed one other hit for the remainder of the game. That triple did come home to score, but one run in six innings is far more workable than seven in two. Bubic did walk three but also struck out five during his relief appearance. He’s shown more flashes of brilliance this year than Brady Singer, but he’s also failed in more spectacular ways and more often. At least before tonight’s game.

Notes

• Hunter Dozier hit a line-drive single to right field, which pleased the TV broadcast booth, but he also struck out twice and looked pretty silly doing it.
• Ryan O’Hearn had another single up the middle and played a passable right field. OK, at least it was better than Jorge Soler.
• Homeplate umpire Bill Welke’s strike zone was absolutely terrible and probably struck out the Royals looking twice on pitches that were well out of the zone. He was offering the same courtesy to Royals pitchers, however. Singer was simply unable to take advantage of it.
• Things could always be worse; a shooting outside Nationals Park has caused the Nationals-Padres game to be suspended. Scary stuff.

The Royals still have a chance to take the series tomorrow afternoon. Carlos Hernández (1-0 4.98 ERA) will make his first start of the year for KC. He has struggled with walks but has also shown some excellent off-speed stuff paired with a three-digit fastball. The Orioles will start another former Royal, Matt Harvey (3-10 7.70 ERA.) It seems like it should be criminal malpractice for one MLB team to employ so many terrible former Royals pitchers.