The Kansas City Royals took a big early lead over the Houston Astros tonight and they didn't give up as they cruised to a winning streak with an 11-2 victory. I wasn't able to watch most of this game as I was recording a podcast on my primary computer and my backup computer was ridiculously slow, but I did my best to follow along.
Spencer Arrigetti started for Houston tonight in his major league debut. He wandered through two fairly uneventful tours before being discovered by the Royals. The third inning went as follows: single, stolen base, lineout, walk, 2 RBI double, single, walk, 2 RBI single, RBI single, stolen base, 2 RBI double, K, pop-up. The Royals sent ten hits to the plate in the inning and seven of them came in to score. The Astros left Arrighetti there for him to wear – welcome to the show, kid.
I'm so used to college baseball, where a seven-run lead can evaporate in an instant, that it felt strange how uneventful the rest of the game was. The Astros answered with two runs in the top of the fourth but never seriously threatened after that. Seth Lugo put together another good start, continuing to not miss a bat but keeping the ball on the ground and limiting the damage. The bullpen was efficient in the mop-up mission as Angel Zerpa, Jordan Lyles and Matt Sauer combined for three scoreless innings with only three baserunners allowed.
After the third inning, the Royals were able to scratch through four more runs to maintain the lead. Vinny Pasquantino finally walked off Alshnid with his first homer of the season in the fourth inning as part of his biggest game of the year so far. The bottom of the order singled for Michael Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. as they moved to 0, with each of the 5-9 spots in the lineup reaching base multiple times.
By the seventh inning, with the Royals leading 9-2, both teams began bringing in bench players. The Royals emptied their bench with Nick Loftin, Freddy Fermin, Dairon Blanco, and Garrett Hampson all appearing in this game. Sawyer, making only his third appearance this season, pitched the ninth inning to cap off the Royals' 11-2 win.
Some nuggets:
- Seth Lugo becomes the 11th Royals pitcher since 2010 to start a season with at least three good starts, the most recent being Danny Duffy's three quality starts to start the 2021 season. Jason Vargas has the longest streak in this time frame when he started the 2014 season with five quality starts.
- Tonight, the Royals won their eighth game of the season, their second series, and their sixth straight game, while scoring double-digit points for the third time. The dates in 2023 when the royals accomplished each of these things, respectively: May 3, May 11, August 3, May 4.
- Since he hit a leadoff leadoff home run in the ninth inning in Baltimore on April 3, the bullpen has racked up 19.1 consecutive scoreless innings.
The win improved the Royals to 8-4 on the young season, just a game behind the Cleveland Guardians in the division. The Royals will go on a sweep tomorrow afternoon in Kansas City.
Seth Lugo: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Spencer Arrigetti: 3 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
Vinny Pasquantino: 3-3, 2B, HR, BB, 2R, 5 RBI
Yanner Diaz: 2-3, 2B, BB, R, RBI
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