KC Royals Shut Down By Noah Syndergaard

The KC Royals faced World Series nemesis Noah Syndergaard Tuesday and got overpowered by the 23-year-old flamethrower in a 2-0 loss.

Syndergaard gave up a triple to Alcides Escobar to start the game, but then retired 12 Kansas City Royals hitters in a row—including striking out three straight in the first inning to strand Escobar at third. Overall, Syndergaard pitched 6.0 innings, while allowing only 3 hits, 1 walk, 0 runs, and notching 8 strikeouts. He escaped a bases-loaded jam by over-powering Kendrys Morales on three pitches in the 6th.

The Mets bullpen shut down the KC Royals without allowing a baserunner in the final three innings. Closer Jeurys Familia finally managed to earn a save against the KC Royals after failing three straight times last October in the World Series.

Despite Syndergaard’s dominating win, he still could not ruin the joy of Kansas City Royals players who received their 2015 World Series rings in an emotional ceremony before the game. I must confess, I thought I had gotten over getting goose-bumps from last October’s wins. Today, I discovered that the memories still give me a charge.

On The Mound

Chris Young: pitched a decent game in the worst possible conditions for him. With a strong wind blowing out, the fly ball pitcher held the Mets to two runs on Neil Walker’s 2-run shot to the right field corner in the 4th. Young lasted 5.0 innings, allowing 3 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs while striking out 4.

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Danny Duffy: entered in the sixth and held the Mets scoreless in 1.2 IP, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, while striking out 1. He left with two outs in the 7th and two runners on base.

Luke Hochevar: allowed a leadoff walk but then slammed the door to escape a bases loaded jam. 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs.

Joakim Soria: redeemed himself with a clean 9th inning that included two strikeouts after allowing 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning on Opening Day.

At The Plate

The KC Royals only managed three hits and one walk (all against Syndergaard) on a tough day at the plate. Though two of their three hits leadoff extra base hits by Alcides Escobar and Kendrys Morales (double in the fourth), the Royals failed to move baserunners against Syndergaard’s swing-and-miss stuff.

New York Mets

The story of the game was the lights-out pitching from the New York Mets. They over-powered the KC Royals like many pundits expected them to do in October. Free-agent acquisition Neil Walker enjoyed a big day, slamming his first home run in a Mets uniform after seven years with the Pirates.

Walker finished 2 for 4, while scoring 1 run, and 2 RBIs.

Next Game

The KC Royals have an unusual two consecutive off days before travelling to Minnesota for a three game series against the Twins. Yordano Ventura (13-8, 4.08 ERA in 2015) will pitch for Kansas City against Tommy Milone (9-5, 3.92 ERA in 2015) for Minnesota April 8, 7:15 CDT at Target Field in Minneapolis.