Kowar lit up in 7-3 loss to Orioles

It wasn’t a good night for Jackson Kowar, who was lit up by baseball’s worst team on Tuesday night. The Royals lost 7-2 to the Baltimore Orioles, evening their series at one win apiece.

Baltimore jumped on Kowar with four first inning runs. They added two more in the third on the Orioles’ second homer of the night. Kowar did bounce back to an extent by throwing three scoreless frames after that, which got him to 6.0 on the night, but he gave up six runs on the night. Kowar used 105 pitches to get his 18 outs, allowing five hits, four walks, and two homers. He struck out seven.

The Royals scored three runs: an RBI single by Nicky Lopez in the third, a solo homer by Carlos Santana in the fourth, and an eighth-inning error by the Orioles scored a run on what should have been a Michael Taylor groundout. Ryan O’Hearn, who is bad, pinch hit for Hunter Dozier, who is also bad, with the bases loaded as the tying run in the eighth. He struck out on three pitches.

O’Hearn and Dozier have combined for a -4.0 WAR in their careers. Maybe they shouldn’t be playing? Just a thought.

Other offensive “highlights”: Whit Merrifield stole his league-leading 39th base. Edward Olivares had two hits. Woohoo! Can’t wait to see how he’ll be benched for O’Hearn tomorrow.

The Royals left 9 men on base. They had plenty of baserunners tonight. They should have scored more than three runs.

There is this, by the way: the attendance tonight at Camden Yards was 4,981, which was the lowest for a full-capacity game in the history of the stadium. I guess that’s what happens when two teams with a combined 105-168 record play.

The Royals are now 62-76. Matt Harvey and Mike Minor face off in a horrible matchup of “why would anybody want to witness this” tomorrow at 6:05 pm CDT.