MILWAUKEE -- Inning after inning, the Royals¡¯ pitching staff gave the offense another chance to put Wednesday¡¯s game away.
Six pitchers struck out 17 batters and mostly held the Brewers quiet, giving the Royals their best collective pitching performance of the season, given how many relievers were used behind starter Cole Ragans, who struck out 10 over five innings.
But a bunt was the breaking point.
Brice Turang¡¯s walk-off bunt against reliever Sam Long in the bottom of the 11th inning handed the Royals a 3-2 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field, a frustrating end to a frustrating series that saw the Royals score 11 runs on Monday, but then combine for eight hits and two runs the past two days.
Turang had struck out three times and grounded out twice when he stepped up to the plate again in the 11th inning Wednesday. With runners on first and third and one out, the Royals anticipated a squeeze bunt was coming. They met on the infield to discuss defensive scenarios.
But Turang laid down a perfectly executed bunt.
¡°It was a good bunt,¡± Long said. ¡°Once I was approaching the ball, I was like, [expletive] ¡ The bullpen was outstanding. Everybody that came in before me was refusing to give in. That's what I was trying my best to do.¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to defend that,¡± manager Matt Quatraro said. ¡°If you execute it, there¡¯s nothing you can do. Especially that bunt. It was perfectly down the line, in the dirt, nobody could have done anything about it.¡±
The Royals had hoped they wouldn¡¯t have to be in that situation in the first place, but a lack of offense kept extending Wednesday¡¯s game.
The Royals managed just four hits, left four on base and were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. After Cavan Biggio¡¯s RBI single in the second inning, Brewers starter Freddy Peralta retired the next 19 batters and departed after eight strong innings. He located his fastball and flummoxed Kansas City with his breaking balls. They didn¡¯t make contact on his curveball, whiffing seven times on seven swings. His slider was similar; even India, who doesn¡¯t strike out much, was fooled by a down-and-away slider for his second punchout of the day.
¡°He¡¯s an ace,¡± Jonathan India said. ¡°Shows a good fastball. Hits his spot. It was tough to get on top of [the fastball]. And then he just mixed it up after that.¡±
The Royals maintain it¡¯s still too early to have any referendum on their offensive struggles, just six games into the season. They¡¯re averaging 3.8 runs per game, aided by the 11-run rout over Milwaukee earlier this week. But they struck out 14 times Wednesday.
¡°Honestly, I feel like it¡¯s too early to put a label on it,¡± Michael Massey said. ¡°¡ You¡¯re still at the point of the season where you got guys hitting .180 and they go 3-for-4 and they¡¯re hitting .340. I feel like we¡¯re giving good at-bats, but we¡¯re running into tough arms, too.¡±
With a pitching performance like Wednesday¡¯s, it¡¯s hard not to feel like they gave one away. Ragans had dominated the Brewers with his fastball -- which garnered 13 whiffs on 37 swings (35%) -- but saw his pitch count get up to 97 after five innings, forcing Quatraro to turn to his bullpen early. Hunter Harvey pitched a scoreless sixth. Angel Zerpa began the seventh with a walk and a double, but Lucas Erceg picked him up by working around runners on second and third with one out.
Instead of keeping Erceg in for the eighth after just nine pitches, Quatraro went to John Schreiber -- who walked a batter but worked around it with two strikeouts.
And in the ninth? None other than Daniel Lynch IV, who extended his scoreless streak to 25 2/3 innings dating back to last season.
That gave Carlos Est¨¦vez the 10th inning, and for the first time, he was pitching with a lead. Massey¡¯s RBI single had given the Royals a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th, but the Brewers tied it on Jackson Chourio¡¯s double.
Est¨¦vez had the bases loaded with no outs but got out of it with a lineout, strikeout and popout.
¡°If we¡¯re going to be in a lot of ballgames like this, I think we¡¯re going to have a pretty good chance to win a lot of those,¡± Est¨¦vez said. ¡°At the end of the day, [Milwaukee] came on top of this today, but I believe that if we go out there and attack the strike zone and get outs like that, we¡¯re in a really good spot.¡±