Royals blast off against Astros early, hang on late, complete sweep 6-5

Let’s keep this brief because we all know there are better things to do right now.

Alec Marsh appeared as the bulkman today after I predicted it would be Jonathan Bowlan and Anthony Veneziano. Marsh had last pitched on Tuesday, so I had assumed the Royals would want to give him the same five days of rest everyone had been getting lately. They chose to pitch him. Greinke will start Tuesday, too, so I have no idea what’s going on. It sure would be wild if the Royals recalled both pitchers and then didn’t ever get them in a game.

The game didn’t start great for the Royals as they went down in order and opener Steven Cruz gave up a run in the first inning. The Royals would go on to score three in each of the next two innings on four home runs, though, and that would prove to be enough. As to who was responsible for those home runs...

Matt Duffy hit his first home run (with a runner on) since April 3. Salvador Perez absolutely destroyed a pitch, also with a runner on. Nelson Velázquez smashed two of his own, both solo oppo-tacos. Velázquez has certainly played the part of future cleanup hitter since joining the team in the trade that sent Jose Cuas to the Cubs.

Alec Marsh pitched reasonably well, allowing only three earned runs in 5.1 innings while striking out six and walking only two. Tucker Davidson got the last two outs of the seventh and Carlos Hernández pitched a scoreless inning of relief to earn a hold. Then the Royals turned to their latest and greatest closer, James McArthur, to earn his third save of the season.

The Royals have now guaranteed they cannot lose more than 108 games. They also made things much more difficult for the Astros playoff hunt. The Royals are now done impacting the playoffs for 2023. They will visit the Tigers starting on Tuesday and then head home to host the Yankees for the final series of the season.