Royals’ rally comes up short, twice, in loss to A’s, despite KC’s fireworks on offense

The Royals offense has been AWOL in many of pitcher Brad Keller’s starts in the 2022 season, but on Saturday the hitters did their best to bail him out.

Keller didn’t make it out of the fourth inning and left the game trailing by four runs. From there, the Royals twice cut the lead to one but couldn’t come all the way back in a 9-7 loss to the Oakland A’s at Kauffman Stadium.

“Amazing to get back in that game with as many mistakes we made, so it was very atypical for us, whether it’s defensively or on the bases,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Just some things happened that don’t normally happen, and they cost us.

“We had some good opportunities, the guys kept fighting to keep us in it.”

After allowing three hits and no runs in seven innings in Oakland on June 18, Keller allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits with two walks, a wild pitch and four strikeouts on Saturday.

A plethora of mistakes in the field didn’t help him.

After Keller departed, the Royals got the deficit to 5-4 after six innings, then fell behind by four again. The Royals got it to 8-7 but left runners on the corners in the eighth inning.

No one in Oakland’s lineup had an average above .243 before Saturday, but the A’s got two hits and took advantage of an error in jumping to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

They added a run in the third and two more in the fourth when Keller was knocked out of the game with the Royals down 5-1. But catcher Cam Gallagher’s two-run double in the fourth inning and run-scoring double in the sixth made it a one-run game.

But the A’s scored in the seventh off reliever Daniel Mengden and Tony Kemp hit a two-run homer to right field against Taylor Clarke, giving Oakland an 8-4 advantage.

Michael A. Taylor’s three-run shot in the eighth inning again made it a one-run game, and the Royals had runners on first and second with no outs.

But pinch-runner Kyle Isbel was thrown out trying to advance on drop by the A’s catcher, and Andrew Benintendi struck out. Bobby Witt Jr.’s single moved Whit Merrifield to third, but Edward Olivares struck out to end the rally.

The A’s added another run in the ninth and held off the Royals.

“I remember telling Skip, I think in the sixth inning, we’re gonna win this game. But we kind of came up short in the end, unfortunately, but I think we battled pretty well offensively,” Gallagher said. “We battled. Every time they scored we came back and put up a couple runs. But it just kind of shows we’re not gonna fall over and die.”

Funky plays abound

Keller’s tough day wasn’t entirely his fault. Olivares twice lost a ball in the sun in right field, and each was ruled a double. Both times, the runner ended up scoring.

Also, Royals third-base coach Vance Wilson barely escaped a line drive and Benintendi was tackled on a weird rundown.

In the ninth, Isbel got turned around on a flyball in right and Christian Bethancourt moved to second. Bethancourt later scored on a wild pitch.

Witt dazzles (twice)

Royals rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. hit his 11th homer of the season, a solo shot in the third inning, and made an incredible defensive play.

The home run gave the Royals their first run.

The A’s went down in order just once through the first eight innings. That came in the sixth when Witt saved a hit.

Helping Keller

The Royals, who had scored two runs or fewer in 12 of his 13 Keller starts, collected 10 hits in the game. Taylor had three, Witt two and Gallagher doubled twice and walked.