Mike Matheny After Mariners’ Sweep of Royals: ‘It’s Frustrating'
It's been a disappointing season for the Kansas City Royals, as the club has found a different way to lose seemingly every time a negative outcome has come about. That was no different on Sunday, as Kansas City took the Seattle Mariners to extra innings but came up short.
With the 5-4, 12th-inning loss, the Royals have now lost four games in a row after scratching and clawing their way back to a .500 record on the year. The club is struggling to strike a balance between offensive performance and pitching sustainability, as neither is coming along at the same time in 2022.
That came to a head against Seattle, as starter Carlos Hernandez got jumped on to begin the game but then settled in thereafter. The Royals tied things up at two apiece in the third inning before Hernandez was charged with another earned run in the bottom of the sixth. Seattle led until the top of the ninth when Hunter Dozier crushed a ball to dead center field to tie the game. Extras ensued, and Kansas City squandered multiple opportunities.
Apr 12, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny (22) looks on from the dugout before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
To be fair to the Royals, they did end up scoring in their portion of the tenth inning. Seattle matched it, though, and then ended up hitting a walk-off single two frames later. All-in-all, Royal batters went just 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The failure to capitalize was never more glaring than it was on Sunday, and manager Mike Matheny knew it. After the game, Matheny spoke about the competitive fire of his club — even in a loss.
"If you keep competing like that, the hits are going to come," Matheny said. "The big innings are going to come, and we're going to have a good streak. It's just frustrating when you have a couple like this slip away."
The top of the 12th inning should have been a big one for the Royals, as they walked twice to load the bases with just one out. Adalberto Mondesi and Whit Merrifield promptly struck out in consecutive at-bats, extinguishing what appeared to be a budding offensive onslaught by the visiting team. Mondesi and Merrifield each struck out four times against the Mariners, and both are in terrible slumps to begin the year. With that said, they didn't have a shortage of chances to snap out of it.
Jun 26, 2021; Arlington, Texas, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny (22) walks off the field during the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Sunday's contest marked the second game in a row in which the Royals gave away a winning opportunity. Kansas City is now 0-4 on the road to begin the season and will have a day off on Monday in Chicago before a series against American League Central rivals: the White Sox.
It's still plenty early for Matheny's group to go on a run and right the ship, but each loss can snowball and ultimately counts the same in the final season standings. The Royals' skipper isn't reading too much into the defeat, however, he knows that everyone involved needs to be better moving forward. A lack of stepping up when needed has been a theme in 2022, and Matheny said Sunday was yet another instance of those shortcomings.
"We let a couple off the hook, but they let us off the hook a couple of times too," Matheny said. "We've just got to figure out how we can get that big hit, how we can grind through some at-bats to get those runners in scoring position. For the most part, we did a lot of things right, too. We just couldn't get the big one when we needed it late."
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