NewsSo close: Royals drop heartbreaker
Wright allows decisive blast in KC's seventh straight loss
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
06/04/09 8:48 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- Jamey Wright knew just what he felt like doing.Wright had just given up a two-run homer to B.J. Upton, an eighth-inning blast that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 3-2 victory over the Royals on Thursday at Tropicana Field.
"I wanted to crawl under that mound," Wright said. "We're fighting this losing streak and we're kind of in command the whole game, and that one pitch spoiled it."
The Royals' string of losses extended to seven after they'd come so close to ending the skid. They held a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, but it didn't last.
"It's just the way things are going. I thought sure we had that one," said Billy Butler, who drove in the Royals' two runs. "We just have to put it behind us and go on to Toronto and forget about Tampa all together."
Hard to forget this one, though.
Gil Meche, although forced to keep dodging trouble, had prevailed over Rays starter James Shields. Meche worked through six scoreless innings, forcing the Rays to strand 10 runners, before opening the seventh by giving up a home run to Carl Crawford.
"Bunch of walks, and the only good thing was I kept getting out of it," Meche said. "I went out in the seventh and hung a changeup and he got it."
Still, left-hander John Bale came in and stopped the Rays. Then he yielded to Wright, who was put in the setup role because Royals manager Trey Hillman was planning to use Juan Cruz as his closer instead of just-returned Joakim Soria.
Soria had pitched Wednesday night and his shoulder was reported to be just fine. But Hillman opted not to risk pitching him in back-to-back games after Soria had been out for nearly a month.
So Wright was on for the eighth, and he gave up a leadoff single to Joe Dillon. Second baseman Willie Bloomquist then made a fine stop of Michel Hernandez's grounder, whirled and made a daring throw to second to force Dillon.
"I was confident," Bloomquist said. "I've made that play a zillion times in batting practice. That's the tying run, and you've got to take a little bit of a chance right there. I knew it was going to be bang-bang, but the thing is to keep the tying run out of scoring position and keep the double play in order. Unfortunately, it didn't work out."
Wright struck out Reid Brignac, but his next pitch was hammered into the left-field seats by Upton.
"I don't even know what to say -- that can't happen," Wright said. "I was trying to get ahead of him, and I'd thrown that pitch a million times and it's been fouled off or taken or hit into the ground a million times. He just got underneath it and crushed it."
Shields had been touched only in the third inning. David DeJesus doubled, Bloomquist singled and Coco Crisp was safe on a fielder's choice to load the bases. The assault lost steam when Alberto Callaspo rapped a grounder back to Shields, who started a home-to-first double play. Butler, though, saved the situation by ripping a double into deep right-center field for a 2-0 lead.
"Obviously, the way things have been rolling, I was disappointed we hit into a 1-2-3 double play, but Billy picked us up and we got a couple runs in that inning," Hillman said. "Other than that, we didn't have a whole lot of damage."
No, because Shields allowed just two hits over the next five innings. Those were back-to-back singles by Callaspo and Butler that started the sixth. But Shields fanned Mike Jacobs and got Jose Guillen to rap into a double play.
J.P. Howell, the left-hander sent to the Rays in the 2006 trade for outfielder Joey Gathright, turned out the lights in the ninth. But not until after Butler, who'd had three hits, made a bid for a score-tying homer that was caught at the right-field wall by Matt Joyce.
"It would have been really nice to have that last one. I hit it good, but it got too much air under it," Butler said.
The series sweep began a nine-game trip for the Royals, which continues Friday at Toronto and then shifts to Cleveland. The Royals keep trying to sift through the debris for positives.
"Guys are still playing hard, still battling," Bloomquist said. "It's just a matter of sticking to our guns and going out there every day, playing hard and hoping this thing will break."
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
