2 KC Royals stars shine early, then hurt club Monday night

On any other night, or at least most other nights, a Bobby Witt Jr. grand slam and a decent beginning to a Seth Lugo start would signal another KC Royals win. But Monday was, unfortunately, not one of those nights.

No, the opening game of what is suddenly a critical three-contest Kauffman Stadium series with Detroit turned out to be anything but a victory fueled by, as were so many that came before it, the two Royal stars without whom this season would be far from what it is — an astonishing turnaround by a now-contending club that lost 106 times last year.

Both those stars, shortstop Witt and starting pitcher Lugo, played both good and bad roles in a 7-6 loss to the Tigers that allowed some uncertainty to creep back into the Royals' promising pursuit of an American League playoff spot.

What happened to Kansas City Monday night?

Witt, who began Monday stuck in a slump so resistant to cure that he was hitting .219 over his last 18 games, clubbed his grand slam in the bottom of the third to give Kansas City a nice 4-0 early lead. Minutes earlier, Lugo, vying in his 31st start to tie Atlanta's Chris Sale for the major league lead in wins with 17, had worked out of a bases-loaded fix to keep his early shutout intact; he wasn't as sharp as usual, but nothing disastrous seemed in the offing, especially considering his two-strikeout, three-up, three-down second. He appeared well on the way to a win with a four-run lead after three innings.

Those proved to be the brightest moments of the night for the two stars.

Lugo had given up only a run through four innings before all but disintegrating in the fifth, an inning he failed to complete for just the second time this season. The ugly details aren't as important as the result — although he'd pitched well enough to win to that point, Lugo handed Detroit three runs on four hits, including a two-run homer, and let loose a wild pitch before yielding to reliever Sam Long for the rest of the inning. A Witt throwing error contributed to one of the runs charged to Lugo.

Witt later drove in another run, but that defensive miscue cost the Royals.

And not surprisingly, the Royals' ever-questionable bullpen played a part in the loss. After extinguishing Lugo's fifth-frame fire, Long started one of his own in the sixth by giving up two runs and three hits before John Schreiber threw a wild pitch and allowed a hit that scored another run. That gave Detroit the 7-6 lead that held up despite Kansas City putting two runners on in both the seventh and eighth innings.

What does Monday's loss mean for the KC Royals?

In truth, losing to Detroit may have rendered clinching their first AL Central championship since 2015 all but impossible for the Royals. By beating Minnesota 4-3 Monday, Cleveland increased its division lead to five games over second-place KC. That's a lot for Kansas City to overcome with only 11 regular season games left. The club's only hope seems to rest now with Cleveland's schedule — the Guardians still have three games left with the tough Twins and end the season with three against AL West front-runner Houston. But they also play the Cardinals three times and the Reds twice.

The Wild Card picture is brighter. The Royals have a 2.5 game lead over Minnesota for the second American League Wild Card, and a four-game advantage over the Tigers. And they're just 2.5 games behind Baltimore for the first Wild Card.

But the status of yet another Kansas City pitcher is in doubt after Monday's defeat. Reliever James McArthur left the game in the seventh with what the Royals said was right elbow tightness. Whether he heads for the Injured List remains to be seen — Christ Stratton, who went on the IL Saturday with a right forearm flexor strain, and fellow Royals pitchers Michael Lorenzen, Wil Smith, and Hunter Harvey, are already there. Should McArthur join them, general manager J.J. Picollo will be forced to hope for help via the waiver wire or dip into Triple-A Omaha's bullpen.

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