3 takeaways from surprising KC Royals series win

Their struggles continued for two KC Royals pitchers Sunday afternoon

Their ongoing battles with pitching in general didn't end for Jordan Lyles and Brad Keller in Sunday's KC-Houston series finale.

Lyles, making his 29th start of the campaign, and despite striking out six and walking only one in six innings, gave the Astros four runs on six hits, including a pair of home runs that tied him with Darrell May's 38 (2004) for the most surrendered by a Royal in a single season. Those four runs were more than enough to secure Houston's 7-1 win and spoil a series sweep for Kansas City.

The loss also gave Lyles a major league-leading 17. The club record is 19. His ERA is now 6.43, which also just happens to be the majors' worst, and he has only four wins.

Keller, pitching in a big league game for only the second time since a shoulder injury sidelined him in late May, was worse. By the time his seven-batter work in the ninth was done, he'd handed Houston three runs, walked three, including a bases-loaded pass to Yordan Alvarez, and given up a triple to Jake Meyers (some might argue MJ Melendez misplayed the ball), and a two-run single to Altuve.

The poor one-frame appearance increased Keller's ERA to 4.76; only in last Tuesday's one-inning stint against the White Sox has he enjoyed a scoreless outing this year. He's now 3-4 in 10 games.

So it is that their Sunday performances did nothing to change our recent opinion that the Royals should cut Lyles and Keller loose after the season.

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