The Kansas City Royals’ offense never gave Michael Wacha much breathing room on Friday night, and the lack of support proved costly in a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Wacha did his part again. The veteran right-hander turned in his 15th quality start of the season, working six innings and allowing three runs, only one of them earned, while striking out seven. But Kansas City kept coming up empty around him, and the Royals dropped the opener of the weekend series after also getting walked off against the Minnesota Twins in their previous game.
The Royals’ run production has been a stubborn problem behind Wacha all season. Entering Friday, Kansas City had averaged just 3.10 runs of support per Wacha outing, the lowest figure for any big-league starter this year.
Against Rockies right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, the Royals managed only five hits in 6 2/3 innings. Their lone run came off the bat of catcher Carter Jensen, who connected for his 15th homer of the year in the sixth inning. The shot reached 424 feet and landed off the right-field facade, briefly giving Kansas City a pulse.
Sugano never really let the game get away from him. He didn’t overpower the Royals, but he leaned on his defense and kept traffic under control. Kansas City wasted Salvador Perez’s leadoff single in the third when Michael Massey grounded into a double play, and Isaac Collins later lined a two-out triple but was left at third.
Sugano picked up his 11th win of the season and has now allowed only four earned runs in three career starts against the Royals.
Wacha absorbed the loss, and the Royals didn’t help him much on defense. Kansas City committed two costly errors, including one in the fourth inning that opened the door for Colorado.
With two outs, Massey threw wildly to Wacha, who was covering first on Troy Johnston’s routine grounder. The miscue allowed Kyle Karros, who had singled earlier in the inning, to score from second.
Brenton Doyle followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0.
Colorado’s first run came in the opening inning on TJ Rumfield’s single. From there, the Rockies did enough to stay in control, and Jensen’s homer was all Kansas City could muster in response.
The Royals have now lost five of eight on their 10-game road trip.
Next up, Kansas City sends right-hander Luinder Avila, who is 5-3 with a 4.81 ERA, to the mound Saturday night against Rockies righty Ryan Feltner, who is 3-5 with a 5.73 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:40 p.m. Central Time.
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The question for Kansas City is whether that version of Massey can keep holding up over the long run. His low walk rate and high chase rate outside the zone leave plenty of room for pitchers to work him, even as he handles breaking balls well enough to stay dangerous. The bigger concern is how often 4-seam fastballs have given him trouble, since that one hole can shape the way teams decide to use him, and how fans ultimately view his place in the lineup. [Read more 🡒]