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KC Royals surrender 8th-inning rally, fall to SF Giants in series finale: recap

Scott Chasen
·5 min read

The Royals had already wrapped up a series win against the San Francisco Giants by the time Sunday’s finale rolled around.

Starter Kris Bubic pitched six shutout innings and left the Royals in position for a series sweep in front of 30,207 at Oracle Park, but an eighth-inning rally handed the Giants a 3-1 win and dropped the Royals to 3-7 on the year.

“Oh, it was great. I mean, great series,” interim manager Paul Hoover reflected after the game. “It stinks that we’re leaving right now after losing this one, but guys battled and showed who they are, and hopefully we can take that into Texas.”

On Sunday, that battle started with the pitching matchup.

Both Bubic and San Francisco’s Anthony DeSclafani were dealing early. Bubic struck out six in his first three innings, while his San Francisco counterpart had three strikeouts — all looking — in that same time.

Vinnie Pasquantino gave the Royals their first hit in the fourth inning, knocking a pitch to the gap in left-center for a two-out double. Salvador Perez drove in Pasquantino with a single, as KC went up 1-0.

Bubic didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning — a leadoff single by David Villar — and struck out the next two batters he faced. He was replaced after six innings (76 pitches). He did not allow a run and struck out nine.

Bubic said postgame he had no issue being taken out given it was early in the season and he hadn’t pitched into the sixth in his other start thus far in 2023.

The Royals had a chance to add to their lead in the seventh, as Pasquantino singled to lead off the inning and later advanced to second on a one-out single by a pinch-hitting Matt Duffy. But Kyle Isbel grounded out and Franmil Reyes struck out to end the inning.

Nicky Lopez also reached on a leadoff double in the eighth, but Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out, MJ Melendez flew out to center and Bobby Witt Jr. struck out to end the scoring threat.

“Really frustrating,” said Pasquantino. “Same sort of thing we’ve been talking about. Pitchers set us up in a really good spot and we couldn’t get anything done on the offensive side. Hats off to Kris. He did a really good job.”

San Francisco tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth, as Bryce Johnson reached on a single and scored on a double from Wilmer Flores. Michael Conforto then smashed a two-run shot to right to put the Giants up 3-1.

“I know we had an open base, I was basically trying to make a good pitch (on a breaking ball) and kind of left it up enough where he could get to it,” reliever Ryan Yarbrough said postgame. “He did some damage to it.”

Missed previous games in the series?

Here’s a look back at the action from Sunday’s game.

Kris Bubic dominanted Sunday

While it was still a touch early to be thinking no-hitter, Bubic’s stuff was that good heading into the fifth inning, when he gave up his first hit.

The Royals lefty responded by striking out the next two Giants he faced — bringing his strikeout total to eight for the game.

Heliot Ramos bunted for a base hit to put Bubic in his first real pressure situation — facing two on with two out in the fifth — but Bubic got Bryce Johnson to fly out to shallow right to end the inning.

Bubic’s nine strikeouts tied a career-high and were the most he’d posted in a game since August 2021.

“You get an effort like that, you hope …” Hoover said, his voice trailing off before continuing: “You obviously have a chance to win, but the bullpen is our strength. We relied on it. And today the other team made the adjustments.”

Salvy continues to produce

After hitting home runs in each of the first two games of the series — including a clutch three-run shot with the Royals behind 5-2 in the eighth on Saturday — Perez made it three-straight games with an RBI in San Francisco.

Perez, who did not have any home runs or RBIs in 2023 before the series began, went 1 for 4 with a solo home run on Friday, 1 for 3 with a home run on Saturday and 1 for 4 with the RBI-single on Sunday.

He nearly added a ground-rule double to those numbers in the seventh but just missed the foul line on a liner to left by some six inches.

Early exit for Carlos Hernandez

Replacing Bubic to begin the seventh, Carlos Hernandez’s day did not last long. He walked the first batter he faced, retired two and then came up hobbling. Hoover called it a cramp postgame, while Hernandez, while walking through the clubhouse, indicated he was fine.

Even so, Hernandez left the game, making way for Yarbrough. There was some confusion from the Royals dugout about who the San Francisco batter would be, but eventually Yarbrough took the mound and struck out Blake Sabol to end the seventh and keep the score at 1-0.

Yarbrough surrendered all three Giants runs in the eighth.

Up next

The Royals will head down to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers for a three-game series beginning Monday. KC manager Matt Quatraro is expected back for the series after missing the trip to San Francisco following a positive COVID-19 test.

Game 1 of the Rangers series is slated to begin at 7:05 p.m. Central on Monday, April 10. Right-hander Zack Greinke will be on the mound for KC, opposing Rangers lefty Andrew Heaney.