Ninth-Inning Kansas City Collapse Paves Way for Diamondbacks to Win Game, Series Over Royals
Things were headed in the right direction for the Royals in their series finale against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. While neither team had scored a run since the fourth inning, Kansas City was in front by a run going into the ninth inning, when it called upon James McArthur to close out the visitors at Kauffman Stadium with a 4-3 lead.
It couldn't have gone much further downhill from there.
Arizona (53-50) scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning, including a three-run home run by All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte. A too-little, too-late rally by the Royals in the bottom half of the inning yielded two runs and brought the tying run to the plate, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Diamondbacks from winning the game 8-6 and the series 2-1.
The scoring started early. Each side plated a run in the second: the Diamondbacks on a Eugenio Suarez solo home run and the Royals on a Drew Waters RBI double. In each of the first two innings, Kansas City stranded a runner on third. It left men on the corners in the first. Those chances mattered.
During the fourth inning, the Diamondbacks' bats started to get hot after Kansas City started Michael Wacha had a clean third frame. Designated hitter Joc Pederson and first baseman Christian Walker hit back-to-back home runs. The Royals again responded quickly, getting two of the first three hitters on in the home half. They each wound up scoring, and Kansas City took a one-run lead when center fielder Kyle Isbel scored on a wild pitch by Ryne Nelson, his second such pitch of the game.
While the scoreboard was quiet for most of the night afterwards, it was not without close calls. Arizona stranded a man on third twice, once in the fifth and again in the eighth. In that fateful ninth, McArthur got Suarez to whiff on a ball that wasn't even in the neighborhood of the zone, then singled a relatively inauspicious single to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who had entered the game earlier as a pinch hitter. A double play would've ended the game, giving the series to the Royals.
Instead, the next batter (shortstop Geraldo Perdomo) walked. Catcher Gabriel Moreno doubled in his next at-bat, giving the Diamondbacks the lead back with one swing of the bat. Affectionately known by its fanbase as the "Answerbacks" during its pennant-winning 2023 season, Arizona had lived up to that billing Wednesday night. The visiting side wasn't done. After Corbin Carroll singled to stop the bleeding on what had been an 0-3 performance at the dish, Marte sent the dagger out of Kauffman Stadium with his 22nd long ball of the year.
Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald, who has the propensity to run into trouble spots on occasion, did so again as Kansas City attempted a huge comeback bid of its own. He gave up a leadoff single to Maikel Garcia, then gave himself some breathing room by retiring the next two batters. However, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. got his third hit of the night next, placing runners on the corners for first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino. After Witt advanced, Pasquantino sent both runners home.
That was all she wrote for the Royals' rally, as catcher Salvador Perez flew out to left field to end the game. He did not have a night to remember offensively, hitting into two of the three double plays that plagued the Kansas City offense in the game.
Another home interleague series is on deck for the Royals, this time against the Chicago Cubs. The team has an off day on Thursday as it looks to regroup from two bad nights in a row at the ballpark, after having started the official second half of the season strongly with four consecutive wins out of the All-Star break.
WILL MILLER