After a 5 run first inning, Kansas City had a multi-run lead for over half the game. The Marlins kept chipping away inning after inning to eventually win 9-6.
It was a very exciting beginning to the game tonight, though it was both the good and bad type of exciting. Noah Cameron had a breaking ball hit the back foot of the leadoff hitter to start the game. Then Otto Lopez hit a hard groundball down the third baseline and into the corner that John Rave misplayed into a triple and an RBI. Kyle Stowers was up third and the infield was in. He immediately hit a little single up the middle to make the game 2-0. Cameron started to settle in after that and got out of the first. In the bottom half the Royals decided to show Miami that anything they could do KC could do better. Carter Jensen led the game off by pulling a solo home run and cutting the lead in half. Bobby Witt managed to reach base with a single before Jac Caglianone mirrored the triple in the top half of the inning only down the first baseline and into the corner for a double. It was enough with Witt’s speed to tie the game up 2-2. That was not enough for Salvador Perez however, so he also turned on a ball and hit his 18th bomb of the year to score two and give the Royals the lead. After which Vinnie Pasquantino flew out, Nick Loftin worked a walk, and the newly returned Michael Massey drove a double to right center for a 5-2 lead.
That was a long inning for Eury Perez ending with 34 pitches thrown, and the Marlins even got the bullpen moving a bit before the end of the initial frame. It was a great start after the last two games where the Royals got blown out, but the crazy first was a long way from the end of this one. Cameron, after those first three batters, took down the next 8 in a row before Miami got to him in the 3rd. With two outs and no one on, Stowers got his second RBI knock of the night by hitting a solo homer to left center. It looked like he may have struck out on a check swing the pitch before the home run, but it was called no swing on appeal.
In the bottom of the 4th, with Eury still hanging in there, Carter Jensen tagged another mistake and lined it 110mph into the Royals bullpen. It was his second multi-homer game of his career and brought him to and then above the 20 homer mark. Not bad for your first full season in the bigs. Royals lead 6-3.
Noah started struggling in the 5th when it seemed his pitches lost some of their bite. It is ludicrously hot currently so fatigue or grip could have been an issue. He walked Jared Serna who was leading off the inning, never the way you want to start. Then the 9-hole hitter, Joe Mack, lined a pitch into right for a single. Heriberto Hernandez kept it going with a ground rule double to left center that luckily hopped the fence and kept it to one RBI cutting the lead to two. At that point Jose Cuas started warming up, but Cameron was not finished. He struck out the next three batters including Stowers on a full count after which Stowers challenged and lost. Three big Ks to strand two runners showed a level of maturity on the mound that should excite all Royals fans.
On the other side, Perez did not survive the inning. He did get two outs into the bottom of the 5th, but Loftin had singled and stole second in between them. John Rave then put together an impressive ten pitch walk. That pushed Eury over 100 pitches and Cade Gibson out of the pen to strike out Isbel and end the threat. The Marlins also lost a second challenge and would be without any for the back half of the game.
After warming up the prior inning, Cuas came in for the 6th and Cameron’s night ended in line for the win. That possible win was immediately in jeopardy after the inning began with a single followed by a walk. Former Royal Jeff Conine’s son, Griffin, came in to pinch hit and grounded an RBI single through the right side to begin a big day off the bench for Conine. Kyle Isbel then helped Cuas out by making a long run and a diving play against Serna, but it was enough to get the run home from third and tie it 6-6. Jose was removed for Connor Thomas after recording just one out and giving up the lead. Thomas has been mostly effective since joining the Royals pen but was not effective enough tonight. He struck out Mack before giving up the lead on a Hernandez double that got the Marlins back ahead 7-6. That was a third run charged to Cuas and Thomas did end the inning with no more damage done.
After all of that through 6, the scoring dried up. Only the 2nd inning had seen both teams fail to score in the first two thirds of the game and then in the final third they both started posting all zeros. The Royals had opportunities in the 6th and 7th but stranded multiple runners both innings in part thanks to Conine making two great plays in right field on well struck balls from Vinnie and Massey. In the ninth the scoring started again, though it was for the wrong team. Alex Lange had taken over for the Royals to begin the ninth and Stowers and Ramirez out to start the inning. It looked like he could maybe turn it back over to the bats needing just one run before he gave up back-to-back home runs and make it a 9-6 lead for Miami.
That was enough as no Royals reached base in the 9th. For the Marlins it is a big win to keep pace with Arizona and pick up one on San Diego, the two teams ahead of them for that third NL Wildcard slot. Miami has won the series and will go for the sweep tomorrow when Michael Wacha faces Sandy Alcantara.
