Sewage series starts swimmingly, Royals romp 5-1

In a mostly uninteresting game of baseball at the Coliseum, the Royals prevailed over the A’s by a 5-1 score.

It turns out that facing Oakland is a good way to get a pitcher back on track. Daniel Lynch, who had been struggling in his last several starts, threw five strong innings. He struck out ten batters, blowing away his previous career high of seven, and generated a whopping 23 swings and misses, also a career high. He allowed just two hard hit balls and one run, which scored on a wild pitch in the second inning.

The Royals made a ton of hard contact off Frankie Montas, swatting ten hits in his five innings. His defense didn’t do him any favors either. In the fifth, Matt Davidson failed to record an out on a groundball off the bat of Salvador Perez, allowing Bobby Witt Jr. to reach third. He would score on an MJ Melendez sac fly. Later in the inning, with two outs, Elvis Andrus and Davidson allowed a pop-up to drop between them, scoring Perez. Davidson has never been known for his defense.

One unusual thing that happened tonight: in the middle of the second inning, home plate umpire Ron Kulpa exited the game for unspecified reasons. This meant the rest of the game had to be played with three umpires. This did not seem to have any noticeable impact on the game.

The win improves Kansas City’s record to 22-41, tying them with Oakland in the win column and putting the Royals at 2-2 on their current west coast swing. They will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon.

Daniel Lynch - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 0 HR

Frankie Montas - 5.0 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

Salvador Perez - 2-4, 2B, HR, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R

Elvis Andrus - 2-4, R