KANSAS CITY -- The Royals survived an injury-riddled start from Cole Ragans when he exited with left groin tightness in their 7-4 win over the Rockies in Game 1 of Thursday¡¯s doubleheader at Kauffman Stadium.
For the first time since April 4, the Royals scored more than four runs in a game. The 17-game streak came to an end just two games shy of the club-record 19-game streak that the team set from June 5-26, 2018.
Within those 17 games, the Royals had only scored 40 runs. And Game 1 on Thursday marked just the third time in 25 games that the Royals have scored more than four runs this year.
Ragans just did not have his usual good stuff Thursday, allowing four runs on three hits in three innings -- with two homers, two walks and four strikeouts. He had a hard time loosening up in his bullpen, manager Matt Quatraro said, and didn¡¯t seem right in a 22-pitch first inning, catcher Salvador Perez added, when he walked leadoff hitter Brenton Doyle and allowed an RBI single to Hunter Goodman.
And after 62 pitches in just three innings, Ragans exited. The lefty was getting treatment after Game 1 and headed for more testing for the Royals to determine the severity.
Ragans¡¯ velocity averaged 94.5 mph Thursday, down a tick from his 95.7 mph year average.
¡°I would assume if he¡¯s not comfortable pushing off, you¡¯re going to cut some stuff off, which makes sense based on some of those misses [being] low on offspeed pitches,¡± Quatraro said. ¡°Probably just wasn¡¯t getting through it.¡±
That left the Royals¡¯ bullpen to pick up the majority of innings in the first game. Angel Zerpa and Steven Cruz each pitched two scoreless innings before Lucas Erceg and Carlos Est¨¦vez closed it out.
But for one of the first times this season, the Royals¡¯ offense picked up their starter in a big way. A 1-0 deficit after the top of the first wasn¡¯t the end of the world when Perez lined a two-run double in the bottom of the frame against Rockies starter Germ¨¢n M¨¢rquez.
¡°A couple of the fastballs we turned on, I was impressed with that,¡± Quatraro said. ¡°[Marquez] has a good sinker. Those are 94-96 mph sinkers. They probably got a little more of the plate than he would have wanted, but that¡¯s something we haven¡¯t seen our guys do in a while.¡±
When Ragans allowed a solo homer to Jordan Beck in the second and a two-run homer to Goodman in the third, the Royals came right back to tie it. Perez doubled again and scored on Michael Massey¡¯s RBI single, and Hunter Renfroe extended the inning with a single so Drew Waters could come through with a game-tying single of his own.
And the Royals took advantage of two walks in the fifth inning when Kyle Isbel lined a sharp go-ahead, two-run single past first baseman Michael Toglia¡¯s glove, Isbel¡¯s first two of three RBIs on Thursday afternoon.
¡°Cole was not 100 percent today,¡± Perez said. ¡°He likes to compete like everybody in this game. His groin was tight. I could tell from the bullpen, it was not him today. But [the offense], we got his back today. Every time he pitches, we feel like we¡¯re going to win. There are going to be days like today, where you¡¯re not going to feel 100 percent. He¡¯s going to try to see what he can give to the team. But we¡¯ve got to take care of him, too. And that¡¯s what we did today.¡±