The Walk Off: The Royals are falling short as defending champions
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with the struggling defending champion Kansas City Royals and a strange night in the Bronx..
Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain wasn’t able to celebrate his three-home-run night Tuesday against the Yankees because his career-best performance for power came in a 10-7 loss in New York.
The Yankees scored five runs combined in the seventh and eighth innings and watched Aroldis Chapman record his first save of the season in his second outing since returning from a suspension. The Yankees seem to be finally putting together the pieces while the Royals continue to search for answers.
Cain had never homered three times in a game at any level of baseball, but the feat he has in common with the likes of Bo Jackson and George Brett, came with Kansas City in the midst of a funk it just can’t seem to emerge from right now. The Royals lost for the 11th time in the past 14 games to fall two games below .500 just six months after capping the 2015 season with a massive celebration after winning the World Series.
[Elsewhere: White Sox’s lights-out bullpen driving force behind great start]
Kansas City isn’t winning games for a variety of reasons and it often seems to be something different from day to day. Pitching has been inconsistent at best once you get past Ian Kennedy and his 2.13 ERA. The bullpen and defense failed on Tuesday.
The hope was for Yordano Ventura to take a step forward this season and become a guy who belongs in the No. 1 or No. 2 spots in the rotation. But he has 4.65 ERA after six starts and has walked as many batters (25) and he has strikeouts.
Offensively, Kansas City remains among the best hitting clubs in the American League but that hasn’t translated to scoring runs. Only the Angels, Twins and Rays have scored fewer runs to this point.
The Royals have drawn only 72 walks as a team and have the third-worst on base percentage in the AL. Improving those numbers should help them score more and maybe the next time one of them has a three-homer game, it won’t come with a somber ending.
TOP PERFORMERS
Addison Russell: The dynamic young shortstop for the Cubs hit a double and triple and drove in three runs to lead Chicago to its eighth consecutive victory. Russell’s seventh-inning triple knocked in Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist and ultimately made the difference in an 8-7 victory over San Diego, which scored four in the eighth.
Trevor Bauer: Cleveland’s right-hander started the year in the bullpen but threw seven strong innings in a starting role at Houston, allowing the powerful Astros only three hits. Bauer struck out seven to earn his second consecutive victory since moving into the rotation as the Indians shutout the Astros 4-0.
Travis Shaw: The Boston first baseman led a 13-5 blowout over the A’s by going 3-for-4 with five runs driven in and two runs scored. He hit an opposite-field, three-run home run in the fifth inning off reliever Daniel Coulombe. It was Shaw’s fourth home run of the season.
Ryan Zimmerman: He doubled his home run total for the season by hitting a pair of long balls against Detroit, but the Nationals ultimately lost 5-4 to the Tigers. Zimmerman went 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Detroit closer Francisco Rodriguez ended Zimmerman’s big night by striking him out in the ninth inning with the tying and winning runs on base.
Ryan Rua: The Texas first baseman hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to provide the winning runs in Texas’ 13-11 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Rua went 3-for-5 in the game with four RBI and scored two runs. The White Sox were 20-0 when holding a lead in the eighth inning this season prior to Tuesday.
[Elsewhere: Vin Scully lands Sports Illustrated cover in his final season]
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
Trayce Thompson came off the bench with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game and belted a solo walk-off home run to left field for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets. It was the first walk-off home run of Thompson’s career and the second consecutive game in which Thompson has hit a home run. It was his fourth of the season.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Phillies 3, Braves 2: Maikel Franco hit what proved to be the decisive home run in the eighth inning off Atlanta starter Matt Wisler. Franco went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and his solo shot in the game.
Orioles 5, Twins 3: Adam Jones went 2-for-5 with a home run and drove in three to lead Baltimore to a victory over the slumping Twins. Manny Machado also hit a home run and went 3-for-3.
Brewers 10, Marlins 2: Miami starter Adam Conley shutout the Brewers into the eighth inning two weeks ago, but didn’t fare nearly as well this time. The Brewers scored four runs on seven hits off Conley this time. Ryan Braun drove in two and was on base four times for Milwaukee.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 1: Rubby De La Rosa came through with the rare stellar pitching performance in Coors Field, allowing just four hits to the Rockies over 71/3 innings and one run. Paul Goldschmidt hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to help De La Rosa secure his fourth win.
Cardinals 8, Angels 1: St. Louis hit the ball hard all night to the tune of nine extra base hits, including two home runs from third baseman Matt Carpenter. Mike Leake pitched eight innings and allowed one run six hits.
Blue Jays 4, Giants 0: Toronto starter J.A. Happ threw 82/3 innings, giving up six hits with five strikeouts to lead Toronto to a shutout on the road at San Francisco. Happ improved to 5-0 and lowered his ERA this season to 2.05. Tory Tulowitzki hit a home run and drove in three.
Mariners 6, Rays 4: Seattle won with a pair of home runs from Franklin Gutierrez and Dae-Ho Lee off Tampa Bay starter Drew Smyly. Mariners starter Wade Miley won for the third time this season, despite giving up four earned runs in six innings.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports
Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed
– – – – – – –
Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
