NewsRoyals fall as Indians rally off Soria
Meche goes seven innings, but KC drops fifth in a row
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
08/25/09 1:32 AM ET
KANSAS CITY -- Joakim Soria's bid for a fourth two-inning save didn't get very far. In fact, it lasted just two outs.Luis Valbuena cranked a three-run homer off Soria in the eighth inning to pull the Indians ahead and point them toward a 10-6 victory over the Royals on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium. It was Kansas City's fifth straight loss.
The crucial blast came just after Royals starter Gil Meche pitched seven innings and left with a 5-4 lead. As cheers rose from the crowd of 11,101, Soria trotted in from the bullpen.
He got one out, but Jhonny Peralta lined a single and Travis Hafner hit a spinning chopper that confounded the infield shift to the right side. The ball bounded timidly toward third baseman Mark Teahen, who was playing in the shortstop position, but didn't have a play.
"Good firm base hit by Peralta to start things off, then a cue shot," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "Up to the point of the home run, 'Jack' missed away from location in non-dangerous spots. That was just unfortunately right in his nitro zone."
Nitro zone?
Maybe Valbuena didn't know he had a nitro zone, but Soria sure found it.
"I knew it was a tough guy on the mound," Valbuena said through an interpreter, "but I concentrate on what the guy is trying to throw, not who's throwing."
Soria was trying to throw a fastball, preferably unhittable. But oops.
"It was a hanging pitch," Soria said. "Fastball right down the middle and he just crushed the ball."
The drive just cleared the right-field wall, with Willie Bloomquist leaping in vain after it. That gave the Indians a 7-5 lead.
The Royals had broken a 4-4 tie with two outs in the seventh against left-hander Jeremy Sowers. Teahen singled, advanced on Mitch Maier's one-out sacrifice bunt and scored on Yuniesky Betancourt's single off the shortstop's glove for a 5-4 lead.
Meche went to the mound as if to start the eighth inning and took his warmup pitches. But that was a ploy to give Soria, who had just started throwing in the 'pen, more time to loosen up.
"I had a good idea," Meche said. "They told me he needed a couple more pitches, and I went out there and warmed up as if I might stay in the game -- just in case he wouldn't be ready."
Afterward, Soria said he was ready to pitch, and that's what Hillman thought, too.
"No doubt about it, otherwise I would've let Gil stand out there for another few minutes and let the first hitter get a toehold," Hillman said.
After the home run, Soria pitched to one more batter and got the second out with his 18th pitch. Then Soria was relieved by Jamey Wright who got the third out.
Hillman had no second thoughts about his decision to bring in Soria to go for six outs.
"He's our best guy in the bullpen, he'd had four days of rest, he was well rested, we were right in the middle of their order and I'd do it again," Hillman said.
It was the third blown save in 23 chances this year for Soria.
The Royals cut the lead to 7-6 in their half of the eighth, but the Indians put it away with three runs in the ninth against Wright and John Bale.
Meche gave up four runs for the third straight start since coming off the disabled list, but this time he went two innings longer and was much more satisfied.
"I felt like I had good stuff," Meche said. "I pitched a lot better. My breaking balls were a little bit sharper than they have been, and obviously just the big blow by Hafner. ..."
There was that dark moment in the fourth inning. Two on, one out and a 3-0 count on Hafner. Meche and catcher John Buck figured Hafner would be swinging away.
"I figured he'd probably be swinging so I set up away," Buck said. "I was pretty sure he was, so I was going for a down-and-away fastball so he'd roll over or maybe take a corner pitch."
Meche, however, left the ball out over the plate, and it landed 403 feet over the right-field wall.
Then the Royals jumped ahead, 4-3, with four runs in the fifth with Buck contributing a two-run double. The Indians tied the score in the sixth as Shin-Soo Choo tripled off Meche and Hafner -- again -- drilled an RBI double to left field.
The Royals regained the lead, but only briefly as Soria struggled, giving up three runs in the eighth. Then Wright and Bale gave up three more in the ninth.
Yeah, that bullpen has been problem for most of the second half. And, yikes, now even Soria seems snake-bit.
"More often than not, we've been unproductive out of the bullpen," Hillman said. "It's just a reminder that when you think you've seen it all, you haven't seen it all."
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
