KC Royals: Top 5 Royals moments from June 2019

On the final day of the first week of June, and facing another loss, the Kansas City Royals regrouped, rallied twice, and defeated Chicago to snap a losing streak.

A 6-2 road loss to the Texas Rangers ended the month of May for the KC Royals, and unfortunately set the club on the path of its third-longest losing streak of the 2019 season (they also lost 10 in a row and seven straight). The defeat marked the first of six straight losses and dropped the Royals to 19-38, a record befitting their last-place position in the AL Central and their status as the second-worst team in the major leagues.

The May 31 loss at Texas triggered five more losses before KC won again — the club lost two more to the Rangers (5-1 and 8-3), then returned home and promptly lost three in a row to the Red Sox (8-3, 8-0, 7-5).

Then, on June 7, the Royals appeared on the way to their seventh straight loss — they trailed Chicago 2-1 going into the bottom of the sixth and had managed only four hits off Ivan Nova.

That’s when they came alive. Whit Merrifield shot a single through the hole between third and short and Alex Gordon shot another through the second-short hole, moving Merrifield to third.

Adalberto Mondesi then lined a double to right to score Merrifield and tie the game; Gordon held at third. After Jorge Soler struck out for the first out, Nova walked Ryan O’Hearn to load the bases. Cheslor Cuthbert‘s two-run single to right gave the Royals a 4-2 lead.

The Sox tied the game with two runs off Brad Boxberger in the top of the seventh.

But the Royals, determined to end their losing streak at six, took the lead back for good in the bottom half of the inning. Merrifield reached first on a fielder’s choice that wiped Billy Hamilton off the bases; Gordon’s bunt sacrifice moved Merrifield to second. Mondesi, who would finish with three hits and two RBI’s, singled to center to drive in Merrifield, then scored on Soler’s double for the Royals’ final run.

Jake Diekman held Chicago scoreless in the eighth, Ian Kennedy closed the game with a scoreless ninth and the Royals had their 20th win of the year.

The victory didn’t get the KC Royals out of last place. But it snapped a painful six-game losing streak; for that, it was the third biggest Royal moment of June.