The Royals had the opening they wanted Thursday night in Houston. They just couldn’t hold it.
Kansas City scored first in the rubber game, but the Astros answered with power and never let go, rolling to a 6-2 win behind five home runs. By the time the Royals had even recorded their first hit, Houston had already turned the night into a slugfest.
The first inning briefly looked like it might belong to Kansas City. Two four-pitch walks to Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt Jr. put runners on before Miguel Ullola hit Jac Caglianone in the foot to load the bases with nobody out.
Maikel Garcia then came to the plate with a real chance to do damage, but on the second pitch of the at-bat, he grounded into a run-scoring double play. The Royals got the early run, but that was about as good as it got.
Michael Massey couldn’t bring Caglianone home from third with two outs, and the inning quickly lost its edge.
Houston wasted no time flipping the script. Jeremy Pena opened the bottom of the first with his 20th home run of the season to tie it, and Daulton Varsho’s 12th homer in the second gave the Astros the lead for good.
Before Kansas City finally got its first hit, LaMonte Wade Jr. hit his fourth homer and Yordan Alvarez added his 40th. Taylor Trammell joined the parade with his eighth in the bottom of the eighth.
The Astros finished the night with more home runs than the Royals had hits.
That’s never a good sign.
Jensen was one of the few bright spots for Kansas City’s offense. He drew a walk, then snapped Houston’s combined no-hit bid with a sharp single in the sixth.
He wasn’t done there. In the eighth, Jensen delivered again, driving in John Rave after Rave doubled to cut the deficit to 5-2.
With Witt and Caglianone due up, there was at least a flicker of life.
Then Bryan Abreu erased it. Witt got caught looking helpless on a slider well off the strike zone, and that was the rally’s final breath.
From there, Trammell’s homer pushed the Astros ahead 6-2, and Josh Hader finished the job. Hader, now in his 10th season, retired the Royals in order, getting Nick Loftin, who pinch-hit for Caglianone, on a flyout to right, Garcia on a grounder to second, and Michael Massey on a grounder to first.
Seth Lugo took the loss after a rough night on the mound: five innings, eight hits, four homers allowed, one walk and five strikeouts. He’s now 7-9 with a 5.06 ERA.
The defeat drops Kansas City to 67-86. Houston moves to 77-76 and sits a half-game ahead of the Texas Rangers in the division, with the Rangers leading the Red Sox, 3-0, in the seventh at the time of this writing.
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The Royals may be out of the postseason race, but September still has a purpose in Kansas City, especially when it comes to sorting out who can matter next. Carter Jensen has given the club a real jolt in his rookie season, tying the franchise rookie home run mark while also setting a Royals rookie record for extra-base hits, a strong sign that the organization may have found more than just a temporary spark behind the plate.
Noah Cameron has been another encouraging piece, with his improved run coming after a change in how he attacks hitters on the mound. And beyond those two, the Royals are using the Arizona Fall League to keep the development pipeline moving, with several players set for that next step. For a team that has already been eliminated, the final stretch is about leaving with something tangible, and these late-season gains at least give Kansas City a reason to keep watching. [Read more 🡒]
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Carter Jensen has spent his rookie season doing the sort of damage that tends to creep up on a team before it announces itself. The Royals catcher got off to a slow start, but he kept improving as the year went on and piled up enough hard contact to leave a real mark on the franchise record book, finishing with 58 extra-base hits and moving past Bobby Witt Jr.'s previous rookie high.
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For Kansas City, Garcias progress matters because his availability is tied directly to the stability of the infield and the lineups overall rhythm. Manager Matt Quatraro has sounded encouraged by how the recovery has gone, and the hope inside the organization is that Garcia can finish the season healthy while finally putting the stop-start stretch behind him. [Read more 🡒]