Royals Drop Spring Training Game To The Athletics 10-8 (3/11/12)

To quote the title of one of the effervescent Clint Eastwood’s movies, today’s game was a tale of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Bruce Chen made the start for the Royals and went 3 innings, giving up two hits and one run. Other than the back-to-back doubles he allowed in the bottom of the third to Cliff Pennington and Jemile Weeks, he had a pretty efficient performance.

Hosmer gave the Royals the early lead with his first home run following a Betancourt double and as Bruce handed the reins to Mike Montgomery, I, and many others I’m sure, hoped he would be able to build on Chen’s strong start.

This was not the case.

THE UGLY

When the dust cleared, Montgomery had given up 4 runs on 3 hits and two walks and wasn’t even out of the inning yet. Nathan Adcock then came in and gave up a couple of hits that allowed another of Mike’s baserunners to cross the plate.

The final line for Montgomery:

.2 IP/3 H/2 BB/0 SO/5 ER……he also threw a wild pitch.

Not exactly a solid outing for a player you are hoping will have an impact on the future of the Royals’ starting rotation.

THE BAD

Blake Wood pitched the 8th inning and was rapped for 3 unearned runs after a Kouzmanoff fielding error followed by a walk and a double.

THE GOOD

Adcock gave up another run in the 5th inning and was followed by Tommy Hottovy, Francisely Bueno, and Kelvin Herrera who were each good for a scoreless inning.

On the offensive side for the Royals, Hosmer added another double to his line, finishing 2-3 with 4 RBI’s. Yuniesky Betancourt went 2-4 with a double and a single, while Mitch Maier was a perfect 2-2 with a triple and a single. Other Royals who had hits included Lorenzo Cain, Wil Myers, Alcides Escobar, and Brayan Pena.

The Royals scored 8 runs but just weren’t able to make up for Montgomery’s 4th inning and Kouzmanoff’s error in the 8th.

Interestingly, on the Athletics’ side of things, the Royals met a familiar face in Kila Kai’aihue who started the game at first base for the A’s. He went 1-3 on a 2-run shot off of Mike Montgomery. He also (surprise) walked.

The Royals face the Giants tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. (central time)

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