MILWAUKEE -- With his team down two runs in the sixth inning and the offense struggling to gain any sort of momentum, Royals starter Michael Lorenzen was thinking more about the game situation as he faced two of the best hitters in the Brewers' lineup.
Lorenzen had two strikes on Christian Yelich, but then nibbled around the corners to walk the former NL MVP. He did the same with William Contreras, who worked a seven-pitch walk.
Those will haunt, and they did for Lorenzen against the Brewers. Both walks came around to score in a frustrating inning for the righty and the Royals, whose offensive eruption from Monday afternoon turned into silence on Tuesday in their 5-0 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field.
¡°Those guys, especially in this park, can take you deep,¡± Lorenzen said of Yelich and Contreras. ¡°You always say solo homers can¡¯t beat you, but when you¡¯re down 2-0, you don¡¯t want to go down 3-0. I felt like I attacked the zone enough to warrant some swings there.
¡°Thinking about it, if I could do it all over again, I¡¯d throw it right down the middle and challenge them. But in the heat of the moment, you¡¯re thinking through situations and stuff.¡±
An RBI single from Rhys Hoskins went into center field, and Kyle Isbel¡¯s throw to the cutoff man, Mark Canha, behind the mound was too low, bouncing away from Canha and allowing Contreras to advance to third.
Contreras scored when Vinny Capra hit into a fielder¡¯s choice, one of three potential double-play balls Tuesday the Royals weren¡¯t able to turn.
¡°It wasn¡¯t a well-executed play,¡± manager Matt Quatraro said. ¡°We got to throw it through to the cutoff man, and Mark¡¯s got to be able to catch the ball there. ¡ It¡¯s unfortunate the two runs scored that way, but you got to give them credit for getting the ball in play and beating it down the line.¡±
Early in his outing, Lorenzen was attacking the Brewers in the zone and found good results. He was challenging hitters with his fastball, which averaged 94.2 mph and maxed out at 95.8 mph on Tuesday. His sweeper got three whiffs on six swings, and his changeup was also fooling hitters, aside from the pitch Brewers catcher Eric Haase -- who caught Lorenzen a lot when they were both in Detroit -- took deep for a 419-foot home run in the third inning. Lorenzen even threw two changeups up in the zone (unintentionally) that struck out Contreras in the first and Sal Frelick in the second.
But Lorenzen¡¯s final line, allowing four runs (three earned) with three walks and seven strikeouts, demonstrated the ¡°mixed bag¡± he called his season debut.
"Results weren¡¯t what I wanted,¡± Lorenzen said. ¡°You want to obviously go out and not give up runs and win a game and keep it close, but the process and way I felt and results of pitch quality was great. Just the results off the bat weren¡¯t great.
¡°... But if I throw the ball like that all year, I feel like we¡¯ll be in a good spot.¡±
The underlying metrics of Lorenzen¡¯s stuff Tuesday night is what makes him say that. Ever since the veteran came to Kansas City in a Trade Deadline deal last year, he¡¯s been tinkering with his arsenal and delivery with pitching coach Brian Sweeney. The changes they made last year, especially with his changeup and sweeper, made Lorenzen want to re-sign with the Royals over the offseason. He¡¯s even pitching from the wind-up more this year after conversations this spring. Lorenzen feels like it helps his strike-throwing even more.
¡°The body feels great,¡± Lorenzen said. ¡°I¡¯m in a really good spot. I just need to not give up runs.¡±
And the Royals needed to score some runs. They put up 11 runs in the series opener, but couldn¡¯t figure out Brewers starter Chad Patrick or the rest of the bullpen. Quatraro gave designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino a day off as he continues to recover from the hamstring strain he suffered at the end of Spring Training, and that altered the lineup some as Michael Massey slotted into the three-hole.
The Royals peppered the bases all night, but left nine stranded and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
¡°We¡¯d like to be more consistent,¡± Massey said. ¡°I think that¡¯s going to come as we continue to play here and kind of get to the swing of things. But obviously no excuses, so we¡¯re going to have to look in the mirror, come out tomorrow and do our job.¡±