Royals Report: KC Finally Knocks Off Cards In 12

The Royals bounced back from Tuesday’s loss by outlasting the St. Louis Cardinals over twelve innings for a 3-2 win Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.

The Kansas City Royals improved to 31-26, and remain 6.0 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central. The Cardinals fell to 30-27, and 11 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. The cross-state rivals will finish their season series on Thursday, with the KC Royals having the chance to take a 3-1 season series win with a victory.

KC’s Edinson Volquez and St. Louis’ Carlos Martinez locked up in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through seven innings, before the Royals finally broke by ice by taking a 1-0 lead in the eighth.

The Kansas City Royals then blew two chances to close out a win with a scoreless half inning in the 9th and 10th, before finally finishing off the Cardinals in the 12th. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but at least the KC Royals got the win.

On to my observations about Wednesday’s game:

Next: Kendrys Morales

5) Kendrys Morales Looked Comfortable In RIght Field

Most KC Royals fans were surprised to see designated hitter Kendrys Morales playing in right field with the team in St. Louis. It was the first time in his Kansas City Royals career that Morales has played in the outfield, though he did log 18 games at the position early in his career with the California Angels.

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Much to everyone’s surprise, Kendrys Morales did a pretty good job as a corner outfielder. He made four putouts, fielded a long single in the corner while holding the runner at first base, and made a nice running catch to rob Matt Carpenter of extra bases on a ball deep in the right-center gap.

You can see the video at MLB.com by clicking here.

Not only did Kendrys look good in the field, he went 3 for 4 at the plate though he wasn’t involved in any of the Kansas City Royals three runs. Clearly, the Kendrys Morales experiment worked well on Wednesday night. Expect to see him in right field again Thursday. Heck, Morales might just play right field during Kansas City’s three-game swing through Philadelphia after finishing up their series in St.Louis on Thursday.

Morales isn’t a fast runner so his range as an outfielder surprised me. Apparently, he can read to ball off the bat well enough to get solid jumps. Given Kendrys Morales scorching hot bat (he has five straight multi-hit games), his ability to play as a corner outfielder will come in handy in NL parks.

Next: Edinson Volquez

4) Eddie Was More Than Steady

In his first start after his 12-run debacle, Edinson Volquez was a lot better than steady on Wednesday night. Volquez went 6.2 innings, scattering 6 hits, allowing 1 walk, and striking out 4 without an earned run.

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Volquez got ahead of hitters the whole night, and kept the ball in the park. The result was one of his best starts of the season, before giving way to Luke Hochevar in the seventh inning after giving up a two-out infield single to Brandon Moss.

The truth is, Moss would have been out if Volquez had covered the bag rather than chase after a grounder that had already dribbled past him. Despite getting a no decision, Volquez’s strong start kept the KC Royals tied up in a 0-0 game through seven.

The 6.2 scoreless innings helped Volquez reduce his 5.15 ERA to 4.80. However, he still has a long row to hoe to nullify that 12-run deluge last week. Expect his ERA to remain much worse than his actual performance for some time yet.

Next: Whit Merrifield

3) Whit Merrifield Gets The First Pinch Hit Of His Career

KC Royals manager Ned Yost left Whit Merrifield out of his lineup on Wednesday night after the rookie utility man had gone 2-14 with 8 strikeouts in his last three games. However, Yost inserted Merrifield in the lineup in the eighth inning when he pulled a double switch while sending Merrifield to the plate for pitcher Luke Hochevar.

Merrifield hit a seeing-eye single that skidded under the glove of Cardinals third baseman Jhonny Peralta to load the bases with one out in the 8th. The Kansas City Royals scored what appeared to be the winning run on Alcides Escobar‘s sacrifice fly, but closer Wade Davis blew only his second save of the season in the ninth.

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Merrifield came to the plate once again in the 10th inning with runners at the corners and hit a grounder up the middle that the Cardinals should have turned into an inning-ending double play. Instead, Matt Carpenter booted the ball, allowing Cheslor Cuthbert to put the KC Royals ahead 2-1. Though the play was ruled an error, Merrifield was yet again involved in the second Kansas City run.

Stephen PIscotty slammed a solo shot to dead center to tie the game once more at 2-2, which allowed Merrifield to come to the plate a third time in the 12th. Merrifield hit a one-out double off of reliever Seth Maness and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He then scored the winning run on Alcides Escobar’s RBI double.

In the end, Whit Merrifield ended up getting the first pinch hit of his career and going 2 for 3 while scoring one run and driving in another on a night he expected to spend on the bench.

Next: Cardinals Give Aways

1) Royals Blew Two Save Chances Before Chien-Ming Wang Earned The Win

The KC Royals looked certain to win the game after reliever Wade Davis entered the game in the 9th inning with a one-run lead. After all, Davis had only blown one save all season, and sported an ERA under 1.00.

What could go wrong?

Wade Davis opened the inning by walking Kolten Wong, allowing a one-out hit to Jed Gyorko, and then giving up a two-out single to shallow left field to Jhonny Peralta. Sigh.

After the Cardinals gifted the Kansas City Royals with run by committing two errors in the 10th inning, reliever Joakim Soria blew his third save opportunity by allowing Stephen Piscotty to blast a solo home run to tie the game at 2-2.

Chien-Ming Wang entered the game in the 11th and pitched two clean innings with one strikeout to earn the win when the KC Royals scored in the top of the 12th. Wang is 5-0 as the Royals garbage man this season.

Next: Royals Starting Pitchers Getting Killed By Gopher Ball

Can you believe that Wang might rack up double digit wins if he keeps picking up garbage time victories?