Late inning mistakes cost KC Royals their second straight series

After dropping their first series since April 17-20 over the weekend to the Boston Red Sox, the Kansas City Royals weren't flying at their highest. That being said, they'd still managed to win 16 of their last 20 that point, so one series loss didn't undo the weeks of immense success.

But after taking home the first game of this series with a seven run scoring output on Monday, the Royals made it look as though this past weekend was just a blip in the radar and good times would soon be returning.

However, as the dust settles on Wednesday's game, that's not the situation Kansas City finds themselves in, as back-to-back losses to the Astros have them at 2-4 in their last six games and losers of consecutive series for the first time since that six-game mid-April losing streak.

While there's a lot of positives to be taken out of this series - Michael Wacha and Kris Bubic provided quality starts in the first two games, Salvador Perez returned to catching duties for the first time since May 1 on Monday, and Maikel Garcia broke out of his mini-slump at the plate on Wednesday - it's hard not to look at this series and initially notice the back-to-back late inning mishaps that resulted in the Royals' pair of losses.

Late inning struggles cost KC Royals their second straight series

On Tuesday night Kris Bubic was rolling after going 6 1/3 innngs of one run ball. Then it went to Lucas Erceg who did what what Lucas Erceg does best, put out fires and shut down opponents, as he went 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball in relief.

However, when John Schreiber came in for the ninth with the game still tied at one a piece, he faced Isaac Paredes first. And on just the second pitch of the at-bat, he left an 0-1 sweeper hanging to which Paredes promptly deposited into the Crawford Boxes to end the contest.

Every pitcher gets beat at some point in time, but leaving a sweeper hanging - when it's been statistically Schreiber's worst pitch this year (with a .313 BAA and .500 SLG) while up in the count to a hitter that feasts off breaking pitches (slugging .561 against them), is a tough way to lose.

Come redemption time on Wednesday though, after making it into the sixth inning, Loreznen looked like he was dealing surrendering just the one run of another Paredes solo homer. However, that sixth inning turned a little sour after Lorenzen gave up his second run of the inning thanks to back-to-back doubles.

Matt Quatraro stuck with his guy though in the seventh and was rewarded for it, as Lorenzen sat down the lineup in order via a pair of K's and a ground out.

Come the eighth though, with a favorable pitch count and a tired Erceg, Lorenzen was entrusted with the inning and after recording an out, it was a pair of consecutive hits that tied this game up and ended his night, giving way to closer Carlos Estévez. Unfortunately Estévez couldn't get the Royals out of this jam unscathed, as the eventual winning run came in to score after with first batter he faced.

The mistake here wasn't that Lorenzen was allowed to pitch into the eighth - after all, he was coming off a strong start over the weekend and wasn't overly strained on pitches having only thrown 84 in the entire start. The issues was having Estévez coming on in any situation other than a cleaning inning.

While Estévez was undoubtedly the best arm left for Quatraro to call upon and he's found ways to clean up messes and get the job done time and time again, they're messes he usually gets himself into. While Erceg was likely not available after throwing in back-to-back nights prior, perhaps a Daniel Lynch IV or even a Steven Cruz could have been more familiar with a mop-up situation like this and made way for Estévez to get a clean ninth - which is what he's more suited to do.

Perhaps if Schreiber doesn't throw that specific pitch on Tuesday or Quatraro doesn't give his closer an awkward relief spot on Wednesday, then maybe we're sitting here talking about a different result to this series. But there's no point in playing Monday morning quarterback, as what's done is done.

It's now time have the memory like a goldfish and focus on what can be controlled, which is a weekend series back at home against the St. Louis Cardinals starting on Friday evening.