Before the Royals took an at-bat in the first inning, they were down 9-0. Before the Astros took their second at-bat, the Royals had made it 9-5. Neither starter made it through the first inning, but the bullpens held it there until the eighth, when the Royals added 3 more to make 9-8. The Astros added a home run in the ninth off of Matt Strahm (naturally) to give us the final score of 10-8.
The big damage in the first inning was done by Yordan Alvarez, who has had a great career but is having perhaps his best season yet at age 28. He belted two home runs in that first inning, a two-run shot followed by a grand slam on his second trip. Christian Walker, having a rebound year, also hit a solo shot in the inning.
The Royals kept the line moving in their half of the first. Carter Jensen led off with a single, Bobby Witt Jr. walked, and Vinnie Pasquantino singled to drive home Carter. Maikel Garcia grounded into a fielder’s choice, Vinnie out at second, but drove in a second run. Jac Caglianone struck out, one of three on the evening, and Salvador Perez swung at a 3-2 pitch below the zone to put runners at second and third. Michael Massey doubled down the right field line to drive in one, then Kameron Misner blooped a single to center to drive in two more. Isaac Collins ripped a single into left, and Kameron Misner made the inexplicable decision to go to third on the plate and was thrown out to end the inning.
And that was it for the scoring until the eighth inning.
Garcia singled to lead off, then Jac struck out again, Salvy singled to center, then Massey went opposite field for an RBI single. The Astros called on lefty reliever Bryan King, and Lane Thomas was tasked with pinch-hitting for Misner, but he struck out. Isaac Collins got hit by an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Carter Jensen took an RBI walk, and Bobby smashed one toward the hole, but Isaac Parades managed to knock it down, keeping the Royals to only an RBI infield single. With the lefty still on the mound, Matt Quatraro went back to his bench to get Starling Marte to pinch-hit for Vinnie Pasquantino. Marte hit a weak grounder to short. Last year, he would have been fast enough to beat that out, and the Royals would have tied the game. Alas, it is 2026, and he was thrown out by a hair.
As previously noted, the Astros got one of those runs back, and Josh Hader came in to close it out, inducing three poorly hit balls from the Royals to end things.
Given how the game started, it’s amazing that KC managed to get all the way back in the game. But, as has been their modus operandi for the past two years, it was just too little, too late.
They’ll try again tomorrow evening. Mike Burrows (5.77 ERA, 9.8% K-BB%) will go against the suddenly sensational Noah Cameron (3.84 ERA, 16.7% K-BB%). The game is scheduled to start at 6:10 p.m. Central time. The USMNT isn’t playing this time, so I have no idea how you might otherwise distract yourself from whatever nonsense the Royals get up to this time.
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