Tigers are flat and listless against Royals in third straight loss
· Yahoo Sports
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This is going in the wrong direction.
The Tigers, at the most inopportune time, lost their third straight game and their sixth out of seven, a dispiriting 5-2 defeat against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 21, at Kauffman Stadium.
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Slip-sliding away.
They are suddenly six games under .500 (61-67) for the first time since July 31. At game's end, they were six games back in the Central Division and 2.5 back in the wild-card race.
The Tigers' hitters couldn't do anything against Royals’ lefty Noah Cameron. He shut them down over seven innings at Comerica Park on July 24. And he did it again Friday over five innings. He was at 85 pitches and he was coming off a complete-game, two-hit shutout in Anaheim, which is why his outing was stopped after five.
The Tigers managed one brief offensive flurry. It came in the seventh against former Tiger John Schreiber. After Max Clark walked and went to second on a ground out, pinch-hitter Zach McKinstry drove an RBI double in the gap in right-center.
Kevin McGonigle followed with an RBI single off reliever Steven Cruz. It was his second hit of the game.
That was it, not enough to offset three solo homers by the Royals. The third one, hit off lefty reliever Tyler Holton by left-handed hitting Carter Jensen leading off the seventh, came in answer to the Tigers’ two-run inning.
Right-hander Troy Melton came into the game with a 1.49 ERA, which is the lowest in the game since he made his season debut on May 24. This start, though, was not like all the others.
It was evident early that he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been. He was missing his spots and didn’t seem to have a good feel for his cutter, which has been a difference-maker for him this season.
In his 5.2 innings, the Royals had put 20 balls in play with an average exit velocity of 92.3 mph. They put six cutters in play, three were hit hard, one left the yard. And as the game wore on, his four-seam fastball lost zip. He was throwing it 96 and 97 mph in the first inning, 93 and 94 mph in the sixth.
It’s actually a credit to his arsenal, and his poise, that he was able to limit the damage to three runs.
The Royals scored an unearned run in the fourth inning on two hard-hit balls, though both probably should’ve been fielded. Vinnie Pasquantino rifled a fastball 103.5 mph that ate up Spencer Torkelson at first base.
The ball rolled into shallow right field and Pasquantino rumbled into second with what was scored a double. With two outs, Michael Massey hit a ball to shortstop Kevin McGonigle’s left. It was hit hard, too, 100.7 mph, and McGonigle couldn’t field it.
That was scored an error.
And in the fifth, Melton put a 94-mph four-seamer in the heart of the plate and Kyle Isbel slugged it into the patio area in right-center.
The next two hitters reached but Melton gathered himself and struck out Jac Caglianone and got Salvador Perez to bounce into a 6-4-3 double-play on maybe the best cutter he’d thrown to that point.
But he threw another bad one to Pasquantino to lead off the sixth. That ball flew 409 feet into the seats in right.
It was just the third time in 15 starts this season he allowed more than two runs.
Isbel lined a two-out, RBI double to the opposite field off Ty Madden to make it a three-run spread in the bottom of the eighth.
This will be updated…
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers are flat and listless against Royals in third straight loss