Royals leave Bronx winless, lose 8-4

Salvador Perez ended his home run drought and Bobby Witt Jr. recorded another multi-hit game, but the Yankees scored more off Jordan Lyles, giving the Kansas City Royals a 8-3 loss.

Lyles dug a deep hole for the Royals. Across five innings, Lyles allowed nine hits, five earned runs, two home runs, walking one and striking out three. He allowed three runs in the first inning alone as Gleyber Torres recorded his 16th home run of the season. Anthony Rizzo slapped a ball to center that scored Giancarlo Stanton, making the Royals’ deficit 3-0. Lyles went on to surrender another home run to Rizzo, breaking a drought of his own.

Perez hit an impressive second-deck shot in the 4th inning, opening up the scoring for the Royals. The 381-foot shot would have been a homer anywhere except Fenway Park. Perez hit his last home run on June 23, when the Royals visited the Tampa Bay Rays. Salvy’s production dipped to abysmal levels during the drought, with a .394 OPS and only one RBI across 74 plate appearances.

Michael Massey brought the Royals back into the game with a homer of his own in the sixth inning. With MJ Melendez already on second base, Massey trimmed the score to 5-3. Massey looks like an All Star in Yankees Stadium. That shot marked the end of Yankees pitcher Luis Severino’s day. Across 5 ²⁄₃ innings, Severino allowed eight hits, three earned runs with no walks, and five strikeouts. Not a terrible day for Severino, but not nearly as dominant as it could have been. The Royals continue to rank in the MLB’s cellar in several offensive categories.

Jose Cuas had a great inning against the Yankees, his childhood team. He had family and friends in attendance for his third career appearance in Yankee Stadium. He pitched a shutout inning, allowing no hits and striking out two to close out the sixth inning.

Taylor Clarke came out in the seventh inning to good results. He allowed no hits or runs with one walk and one strikeout. Clarke did not allow a hit or run in the Yankees series, bouncing back from a three-run fiasco on July 17 against the Detroit Tigers.

Maikel Garcia went first to third on MJ Melendez’s single in the eighth inning. With only one out and Michael King on the mound, Perez and Massey both came to the plate as the go-ahead run but both struck out, ending the Royals’ threat.

Scott Barlow came out in the eighth inning and did not have his best stuff against the Yankees. He allowed a leadoff hit, but two walks loaded the bases with only one out. A tricky Oswald Peraza groundball to Nick Pratto caused a throwing error and scored two runs, then a sac fly scored another to make the score 8-3. Nick Wittgren came in for Barlow after this second straight game allowing three or more runs. He has five such games this season while having just 10 in his career before this season.

Wittgren induced a flyout, mercifully ending the inning.

Freddy Fermin started off the ninth inning with a bang, hitting a home run to left field as the leadoff hitter. That is his fifth home run this season in 39 games.

Not to be outdone, Kyle Isbel came to the plate after a Drew Waters strikeout and hit a home run of his own. The second home run that inning cut the deficit to 8-5. But, that ended up being the final score after Garcia grounded out.

Garcia, Witt, Melendez, Massey. and Fermin all recorded multi-hit games in the Royals’ lineup. This is the first time all those players have had multiple hits in the same game.

The Royals fall to 28-73 on the year. Their .277 win percentage only trails the Oakland Athletics for the worst in MLB this season. If the season ended today, that would be the worst winning percentage in Royals history by a wide margin. Plus. Kansas City and Oakland would become the fourth and fifth teams since 1962 to have a winning percentage under .300.

The Royals continue their road trip in Cleveland, visiting the Cleveland Guardians. The first pitch in Progressive Field is at 6:10 PM Kauffman Standard Time, with Ryan Yarbrough starting for the Royals.