September 21 – The Kansas City Royals have suffered their two worst defeats of the season in just over three weeks.
The disappointing finish hampered their efforts to end a postseason drought that began after winning the 2015 World Series.
The Royals will try to put their struggles on hold, at least temporarily, when they host the San Francisco Giants again on Saturday.
Kansas City (82-72) lost 2-1 in its three-game opener Friday, extending its losing streak to five games. The Royals have started the season with seven consecutive losses and have lost 14 of their last 21 games.
Kansas City was in great shape and expected to make the playoffs before struggling in late August. The Royals have since fallen out of contention in the American League Central, and become one of four teams competing for the final two wild-card spots.
The Royals arrive on Saturday one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins, two games ahead of the Detroit Tigers and three games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.
Kansas City is currently four games behind the Baltimore Orioles for a wild-card spot.
Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. was the main attraction Friday, having three hits to improve his major league-leading batting average to .334.
San Francisco’s Heliot Ramos also had three hits, drove in a run and scored a run. Ramos hit only one home run in this round.
In the final at-bat of the eighth, Ramos hit an inside-out single to right field, and Kansas City’s Adam Frazier dived to catch it for another extra-base hit.
“Honestly, I had this idea in my head and I was thinking, ‘OK, let’s hit a good ball, let’s hit a good shot,'” Ramos said of the potential cycle. “I didn’t want to try to do too much. I felt like the last three weeks I was hitting the ball hard and something wasn’t clicking.”
Ramos had his breakout season, batting .270 with 21 homers and 70 RBIs and was named an All-Star.
The Royals have scored just four runs in their last three losses. Kansas City went 0-6 with runners in scoring position on Friday and scored just one run with one out in the ninth inning.
Garrett Hampson hit a sacrifice fly and single for the team. He nearly missed an extra-base hit that would have at least tied the game when he fouled off a few inches down the third-base line.
“You have to give yourself a break,” Royals head coach Matt Quatraro said afterward. “We had every opportunity to hit the ball in the gap or hit the line. Once the ball leaves the bat, you can’t control anything.
“We have to keep taking chances to get guys on the field and force teams to act and hopefully we can get a breakout.”
All five of the Kansas City singles were singles.
“We hit the ball hard and nothing happened,” Frazier said. “We just needed one or two timely hits.”
Right-hander Brady Singer (9-11, 3.53 ERA) will start Saturday looking for his first win since Aug. 18. 3 wins, 5.40 ERA.
Singer allowed four runs and six hits in five innings in a 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Singer is 0-0 with a 5.73 ERA in two career starts against the Giants. Lamonte Wade Jr. went 2 for 5, giving up a home run to Singer.
The Giants (75-79) will send right-hander Landon Rupp (0-1, 3.02 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. It will be the rookie’s third start and 22nd appearance this season.
Rupp was held winless on Sunday after allowing only two hits in five scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres. The Giants lost 4-3 in 10 innings.
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