Matheny: Royals Liked Their Chances Despite Monday Collapse
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The Kansas City Royals have been hovering around the .500 mark over their last few weeks of baseball, and they even managed to win their series against the Detroit Tigers despite getting walked off on in game two of the set. After getting out to a five-run advantage in game one against the Houston Astros on Monday, a similar fate ended up occurring.
Kansas City's bats struck early, scoring all five of those aforementioned runs in the first three innings of the ball game. Catcher MJ Melendez homered twice in the outing, with one of them serving as an insurance run in the eighth inning. Starting pitcher Jonathan Heasley had one of the best outings of his career, going six innings while allowing just three hits and a pair of runs (one earned) with two walks and three strikeouts. That's no easy feat against a very potent Houston lineup, yet Heasley exited the game in line for his second win of the season.
Then the collapse happened. The Astros ended up coming back to win by a final score of 7-6, with Yordan Alvarez clobbering the fateful walk-off home run. Royals manager Mike Matheny spoke about the loss afterward, although he thinks there was plenty to like about the club's process for the most part.
May 24, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny (22) watches from the dugout during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
"It's one of the tougher ones of the season," Matheny said. "Heasley comes out and responds after the offense comes out and gives us some room to work. The guys were doing a great job early on of putting the pressure on. Heasley kept getting the shutdowns — I thought he threw as good as we've seen him throw. Able to add that one late with MJ (Melendez) being able to tack that on to give us a little bit more of a lead... you like the chances of us being able to finish that off."
After the newly-acquired Wyatt Mills surrendered a run in the seventh inning and got into a pickle in the eighth by giving up a leadoff walk to Jeremy Pena, Matheny made the switch to lefty Amir Garrett. Garrett, who has generally been fantastic against left-handed hitters this year, walked Alvarez — a lefty — to put runners on first and second with no outs. He then walked righty Alex Bregman to load the bases, but he was set to face Kyle Tucker (another left-handed hitter) in the next at-bat.
Instead of getting Tucker out and staying true to his season-long splits, Tucker singled and drove in two runs to put the Astros within one. Taylor Clarke went on to relieve Garrett and allowed a single run that was charged to his predecessor, then closer Scott Barlow gave up the eventual walk-off home run. When asked about why he placed his faith in Garrett to get out of trouble, Matheny didn't waver from his supportive stance.
"If we get to that spot right now, we need somebody to be able to walk through that eighth and be able to pass that on," Matheny said. "When you've got two out of the lefties and the way Amir has been throwing, I feel very confident that he's going to be able to get the job done. I know we'll be confident that he'll get the job done next time."
At 29-49 on the year, the Royals' struggles this season go beyond just a few blown leads. With that said, in such a disappointing season, every loss must feel like multiple. Kansas City's pitching staff is one of the very worst in all of baseball and despite Heasley's promising start in hostile territory, the bullpen behind him wasn't able to reward him for his efforts. That's been the issue as of late for the Royals, and they'll have to hope for a better outcome in Tuesday evening's midpoint of the series.
