A day after Jonathan Sanchez could not get out of the 2nd inning, his trade mate from the SF Giants (and fellow left-hander), Ryan Verdugo, lasted just 1.2 innings. The KC Royals yet again lost to the Seattle Mariners, 9-6.

Ryan Verdugo via Minda Haas/Royal Blues

It wasn’t a great Major League debut for Verdugo, was was acquired by the Royals from the Giants for outfielder Melky Cabrera this offseason. I can’t say I was surprised by the performance. After his first callup (in which he did not pitch), Verdugo was moved to the bullpen in Triple-A (except for one start on July 5th). He pitched an inning of relief just two days ago (July 14th) for Omaha.

Anyway, back to his debut.

It started out so well. He recorded the first two outs before allowing a single to Casper Wells. Jesus Montero followed with an RBI double and Justin Smoak followed with a two-run homerun. Verdugo then walked Kyle Seager and gave up a single to Miguel Olivo before escaping the first inning.

Verdugo picked up his first big league strikeout by getting Brendan Ryan on five pitches leading off the 2nd inning. Dustin Ackley and Ichiro followed with back-to-back singles. After striking out Wells, Montero delivered an RBI single. After a coaching visit, Smoak walked to load the bases before Seager drove in two with a double. That ended Verdugo’s debut.

Verdugo threw 55 pitches, 31 for strikes. His final line looks like this: 1.2IP, 8H, 6R, 2BB, 2K.

» Continue reading “Another Day, Another Royals Start of Less Than 2 Innings”

All good things must come to an end. The day before the AL Central clash with the Cleveland Indians, the Royals bats were silenced by Seattle Mariners rookie Michael Pineda and their winning streak was halted at four games.

It seems when Pineda is on the mound, the Mariners play so much better. They field better. They get clutch hits. The bullpen steps up.

Jeff Francis on the other hand, hasn’t won an April start since 2007. He led 1-0 in the 6th inning, but Ichiro doubled and Milton Bradley tripled him home to tie the game. Francis got into more trouble in the 7th inning and was replaced by Blake Wood, who allowed a two-run single to Brendan Ryan to give the M’s a 3-1 lead.

The Royals had their chances in the 9th inning against Brandon League, but Ryan made a diving stop of a Jeff Francoeur hot-shot up the middle and threw him out by inches for the second out. Wilson Betemit followed with an RBI single to cut the M’s lead to 3-2. Pinch-runner Mike Aviles stole second but was left there as Brayan Pena grounded out to end the game.

Up next, the first place Indians are in town for a four-game set beginning Monday night. Kyle Davies gets the starts against the Indians Carlos Carrasco.