Royals Report: Bullpen Blows 2-1 Lead To Lose 3-2 in Oakland

The KC Royals blew a 2-0 early lead after the Oakland A’s scored three unanswered runs in a rare late-inning collapse by Kansas City to lose 3-2 Sunday afternoon.

After winning the first game of the series against Oakland, the Kansas City Royals dropped the next two to suffer their first losing streak of the season. The Royals fall to 8-4 on the season.

Despite the offense staking the Royals to an early 2-0 lead, powered by and RBI single from Alex Gordon in the second and a solo home run from Mike Moustakas in the third, the team wasted a strong start from Kris Medlen who lasted into the seventh and allowed only two hits.

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Unfortunately, the second hit was a double off the bat of second baseman Chris Coghlan, who scored on pinch hitter Jed Lowrie‘s single surrendered by reliever Kelvin Herrera to tie the score 2-2 in the seventh.

Set-up man Joakim Soria continued his shaky return to Kansas City by giving up a triple to Billy Burns to leadoff the eighth, who then scored the winning run on Josh Reddick‘s sacrifice fly.

In the end, sloppy defense by Royals gold glove catcher Salvador Perez cost Kansas City the game, due to his passed ball in the fifth inning that allowed CF Coco Crisp to score from third to plate Oakland’s first run. That unearned run ended up biting the KC Royals in the end.

Fantasy Note:

Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas continues to show the power he flashed in the last two months of the season in 2015, when he slammed 15 home runs in August and September. Moose has hit four dingers in 12 games to begin 2016, and looks a lot more like the slugger that led all of minor league baseball with 36 home runs in 2010.

Don’t be surprised if Moose hits 30 bombs for Kansas City this season.

Key Pitching Performances:

Kansas City Royals:

Kris Medlen: 6.1 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 1 ER, 4 K

Kelvin Herrera: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BS

Joakim Soria: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, L (0-1)

Oakland A’s:

Chris Bassitt: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 ER, 5 K, 1 HR

Ryan Madson: 1.o IP, 1 H, 1 K, SV (4)

Next: Royals Pitchers Exceeding Expectations

Next Game:

The KC Royals have a travel day on Monday, and return home before opening a three-game set with the Tigers. Kansas City sends Yordano Ventura (0-0, 2.45 ERA) to the mound against Shane Greene (1-0, 2.57 ERA) 6:15 CST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.