NewsMissed chances, bullpen doom Royals
Losing streak now at eight as Kansas City drops twin bill
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
07/22/09 1:42 AM ET
KANSAS CITY -- And then there were eight.Eight straight losses for the Royals as they stumbled, 10-2, in the second game of Tuesday night's doubleheader as the Angels took both games at Kauffman Stadium.
The Angels won the first game, 8-5, as 23,874 fans sat in on the Royals' first twin bill of the season. Red-hot Erick Aybar went 7-for-9 and is hitting .558 (24-for-43) in his past 11 games for the Halos, who have won four straight and lead the American League West.
The Royals' spin has put them a season-high 13 games behind first-place Detroit and just a half-game ahead of last-place Cleveland in the AL Central. They also lost eight straight from May 27-June 5.
At least, Royals manager Trey Hillman was told after the sweep, it was over and he could look forward to Wednesday night's game.
"Yeah, that's about the extent of the good news," Hillman said. "Obviously we had opportunities to score more runs than we did and didn't get anything going offensively -- and once again -- not very effective out of the bullpen to keep the game close."
Indeed, the Royals' bullpen had another rough night. Oh, the first game wasn't all that bad -- six of the eight runs were charged to starter Sidney Ponson -- but the relievers coughed up six more earned runs in the nightcap.
So, in the past seven games, the 'pen has given up 27 earned runs in 26 innings for an ERA of 9.35. Ouch.
"Obviously we're getting hit with regularity out of the bullpen," Hillman said. "The biggest issue is lack of secondary command. If you can't locate and can't throw strikes with your secondary pitches, then you're leaving fastballs out over the plate and it makes it a lot easier on these Major League hitters."
Royals left-hander Bruce Chen went five innings in the second game and was behind, 3-2, when he left. Robb Quinlan led off the third inning with his first home run. Bobby Abreu laced an RBI double in the third and another one in the fifth.
The biggest problem was Chen, 0-5 in five starts, quickly ran up 94 pitches and the bullpen had to be brought into the fray.
The Angels had a seven-run uprising against the relief corps in the seventh. Robinson Tejeda, after striking out the side in the sixth, suddenly had the bases loaded with no outs. He was relieved by Juan Cruz, who gave up a three-run triple by Aybar, a gapper to right-center field. That was a killer.
"Fastball. We were trying to go sinker away and it didn't sink," Buck said. "It might have cut on him a little bit. The first pitch was a good sinker down and away and we were trying to repeat it, wanting the ground ball. I just remember sitting away and reaching back over. He just missed his spot."
That's seems to be a recurring story with the relievers.
Abreu followed with his third straight RBI double to put the Angels up, 7-2. And it got worse. After issuing a one-out walk, Cruz was further abused as Howard Kendrick laced a two-run double down the right-field line. That brought lefty John Bale into the fray and he seemed to have the inning ended -- until first baseman Billy Butler made a wild throw to let in a 10th run.
"That was a much tighter game than it looked," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We had real good at-bats in the seventh and hit with guys in scoring position there. But we had to work really hard to hold those guys down."
Every Royals reliever saw action and there were some bullpen bright spots. Jamey Wright contributed three shutout innings in the two games. Bale had a short but good outing. And closer Joakim Soria, in his first appearance since the All-Star break, pitched a scoreless inning. He was brought into the ninth inning of the second game just to get in some work.
In the opener, Ponson, just off the disabled list, was tagged for six runs on eight hits in his five-plus innings. Included was Mike Napoli's leadoff home run in the sixth, a drive that carried 409 feet over the left-field wall.
"It was right down the middle, he did what he's supposed to do with it," Ponson said.
His outing included an odd wild pitch with the bases loaded in third. The high toss rebounded off the stone rim of the backstop all the way back to Ponson as he ran toward the plate.
"You hit that brick wall behind, and the way it is here, normally it doesn't come back right straight at you," Ponson said. "It goes to the side or wherever."
So he gloved the ball and flipped to catcher Miguel Olivo but his tag was just a bit too high to retire a sliding Maicer Izturis.
"I threw it, Izturis is a pretty fast runner and he went outside and by the time Miggy tagged him, he was safe," Ponson said.
Not textbook baseball, but colorful.
Billy Butler hit a two-run homer for the Royals, a drive into the right-field bullpen, to go ahead of Angels starter Ervin Santana, 5-4, in the fifth. It was Butler's ninth.
But Napoli's homer created a 5-5 tie and the Angels went ahead by a run on Aybar's single, two walks by reliever Ron Mahay and Reggie Willits' sacrifice fly. They added two runs in the seventh against reliever Roman Colon with Aybar getting his third hit, an RBI double.
Another tough night for the 'pen and the Royals.
"It's not fun," Buck said. "It's not a matter of not trying or not wanting to. That's why it hurts so much."
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
