The Kansas City Royals bounced back against the Houston Astros with an impressive 5-2 win on Wednesday night.
The Kansas City Royals put yesterday's loss in the rearview mirror against the Houston Astros with a dominant 5-2 win on Wednesday night at Daikin Park.
Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt Jr. got the Royals' offense going with back-to-back walks, however, their efforts didn't amount to anything as Astros starter Cristian Javier fought back to retire three-straight batters.
Jeremy Peña recorded the first hit of the matchup that same inning with a double. Fortunately, Kansas City left-hander Daniel Lynch IV held on as well, also stringing together a sequence of outs.
The pitcher's duel raged on until the fourth when John Rave broke the ice with a two-run homer to right field that put the Royals ahead 2-0. Even then, Javier refused to give in, retiring Josh Rojas and Isaac Collins to limit the damage.
Kansas City would force Javier out of the game during the sixth after Michael Massey singled and advanced to second base via a walk by Nick Loftin. They were unable to tack on another run when reliever Bryan King got Rave down swinging and retired Rojas.
Collins singled in the seventh, moving to second off a productive out by Jensen. Still, the Royals had the weaker links in their lineup exposed when Houston manager Joe Espada intentionally walked Witt Jr.
Massey extended Kansas City's lead to 3-0 in the eighth, connecting on a 93-mph four-seam fastball and crushing it for a solo blast to right-field. The Royals didn't stop there as Collins reached home on a throwing error by Jorge Barrosa while Rojas scored off an RBI double by Jensen. Witt Jr. went down looking to conclude the rally.
Houston didn't go out quietly as Isaac Paredes spoiled the shutout with a sacrifice fly that scored Barrosa. Furthermore, Yainer Díaz went yard in the ninth with a solo blast of his own to bring the contest within three.
Nonetheless, Steven Cruz stood his ground, getting Barrosa down swinging to seal the Astros' fate.
With the win, Lynch improved to 6-5 overall and has now posted a 3.29 ERA and 1.07 WHIP while striking out 52 batters through 76.2 innings pitched this season.
While the Royals will most likely be sitting out of this year's MLB playoffs, the game showed promising signs going forward given the combination of solid offense and relief pitching they displayed.
Kansas City will now turn their attention to securing the series win tomorrow night with veteran Seth Lugo slated to take the mound.
