The Kansas City Royals had a blast in St. Louis today, scoring 14 runs to defeat their cross-state rivals in both games of a doubleheader.
After a hitless first inning in Game 1, St. Louis opened the scoring in the second when Alec Marsh threw a two-strike curveball to Nolan Arenado, who fired it into the sparsely populated center field stands for a home run. In the third, Marsh led off the inning by walking Pedro Pagés, a rookie catcher who entered the game with a 66 wRC+, on five pitches. After retiring Masyn Winn, Marsh was again hit on a two-strike breaking ball—he tried to turn it over, but the ball stayed high enough for Alec Burleson to hit it into the right-field bullpen and give St. Louis a 3-0 lead.
On the other side. Kansas City’s offense began to crumble against a fastball-heavy attack from Andre Pallante that repeatedly hit ground balls. Through the first four innings, the Royals managed just one runner on base, and Pallante needed just 43 pitches to get there. They finally broke through in the fifth. Hunter Renfroe led off the inning by sending a ball down the right-field line that bounced over the fence for a double. Freddy Fermin then worked the count before hitting a classic bunt down the third-base line and beating Pallante’s throw, giving Kansas City runners on the corners with no outs. MJ Melendez then missed a fastball to middle-center before putting one in the same spot on the next pitch. Melendez didn’t miss, ripping it into the right-center gap for a double, scoring Renfroe and moving Fermin to third base. After Nick Loftin rebounded, Garrett Hampson hit a fly ball to the warning track in center field, switching places with Melendez and tying the game.
In the bottom of the fifth, Marsh did what you want a pitcher to do after scoring runs by retiring all three batters in order on 11 pitches. With the offense back on the field, the Royals took their first lead of the game when Salvador Perez hit a single to center field for his 15th home run of the season. Now leading, Marsh worked a 1-2-3 sixth to end his day. After allowing the home run to Burleson, Marsh retired the last 11 batters he faced.
After Will Smith drove in a scoreless seventh, the Royals went to work to extend the lead. Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. led off the inning with back-to-back singles, with Garcia advancing to third on Witt’s hit. Vinnie Pasquantino singled deep to left to score Garcia, extending the lead to 5-3. Perez then singled deep to left to easily score Witt, who had advanced to second when Cardinals reliever Chris Roycroft sent a slider into the backstop.
With a three-run lead, Sam Long allowed a blooper but retired the other three batters to end a scoreless eighth inning. James McArthur entered for the ninth. After retiring the leadoff batter, Paul Goldschmidt grounded out with a fly ball that barely cleared the wall down the right-field line, cutting the deficit to 6-4. The tying run came at the plate after Nolan Arenado singled through the 5-6 hole, but McArthur got Lars Nootbaar to pop out to end the game.
Alec Marsh: 6.0 innings, 3 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 2 home runs
André Pallante: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Salvador Perez: 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBIs
Nolan Arenado: 2-4, HR, R, RBI
In Game 2, the Cardinals struck first again in the second inning. For the second time today, they hit an opposite-field home run that barely cleared the wall, this time off the bat of Nootbar. Unlike Game 1, the Royals wasted no time in responding, with Melendez hitting the first pitch of the third inning into the right-field bullpen to tie the game at one. Just before Burleson flew out to the warning track to end the bottom of the third inning, I realized that Michael Wacha’s jersey was several shades of gray from sweat. Good thing we have those new jerseys!
The Royals took the lead in the fourth inning. Witt led off the inning with a fastball that went down to shallow left field. Pasquantino then sent a fastball down and into right field and crushed it against the base of the wall in right-center field. With runners on second and third, Perez hit a fly ball to right that was easily deep enough to score Witt from third base. With the Royals now leading 2-1, the Cardinals turned to their bullpen. Matthew Liberatore came in and got the second out of the inning, but after taking the 1-2 lead off Renfroe, he left a slider in the air that Renfroe dropped into left field to score Pasquantino.
St. Louis responded in the bottom of the inning. Goldschmidt narrowly missed a fly ball to the warning track, but Nootbaar then hit the right-field wall for a double. After Arenado grounded out, Nolan Gorman hit a hanging curveball to left-center field that bounced over the outfield wall for a groundout double, scoring Nootbaar. 3-2 Royals.
Kansas City managed to score two runs in the fifth inning. Isbel singled up the middle with one out. With Adam Frazier at bat, he stole second base. Frazier hit a soft fly that just went through the 5-6 hole, forcing Isbel to wait before advancing to third base. He was still sent home and dove at the plate just before Willson Contreras’ tag. Frazier made a head play by going all the way to third base when no one was covering the bag. It proved important because Witt followed that up with a fly ball to right field that was easily deep enough to score Frazier. The score was 5-2 Royals after Pasquantino was grounded out to end the inning.
As is customary in this game, St. Louis responded in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Contreras singled. Burleson then crushed a first-pitch changeup meatball, narrowly missing a home run to center field. There may have been a play at the plate to put Contreras out, but Witt’s throw was well off the line, allowing the run to score and Burleson to advance to third base. They got another when Goldschmidt followed with a swinging bunt down the third-base line that no one had a play on. Pasquantino made a great play on a ball down the first-base line by Nootbaar to end the inning, but the lead was cut to 5-4.
Can you guess what happened next? The Royals scored immediately! As quickly as possible. I’m talking about before the scoreboard was even fully loaded on the broadcast, Salvy crushed the worst pitch in MLB history over the left-field bullpen for his second home run of the day. Michael Massey followed with a grounder that managed to get under Gorman’s glove for a single and that’s all she wrote for Liberatore, who was out of the game with as many hits allowed as outs recorded.
Wacha’s outing was over, after leading five innings without being at his best. Angel Zerpa was the first out of the bullpen and he worked without stress for 1-2-3 innings. Ryan Fernandez, who had retired the last three Royals in the previous inning, couldn’t do the same in the seventh. Isbel walked five pitches before moving to third when Witt singled to the spot where the second baseman would normally play. St. Louis turned to John King to stop the bleeding. He failed when Pasquantino singled to the spot where the shortstop would normally play. He wasn’t there, of course, so the throw went through and Isbel scored to make it 7-4 Royals.
Since this is effectively a college baseball game, the Cardinals immediately started to rally in the bottom of the inning when Dylan Carlson led off the inning with a powerful single. Brendan Donovan then hit a chopper down the third-base line just out of Garcia’s reach, giving runners on second and third for St. Louis with no outs. John Schreiber was called upon to squash the rally. Contreras bounced a single to shortstop and the Royals traded a run for the out. Schreiber then struck out Burleson and Goldschmidt to maintain a 7-5 lead.
A funny thing happened in the eighth inning. Or rather, a funny lack of things – each team was eliminated in order. That brought us to the 18th inning of this silly doubleheader. Isbel got things started with a fly ball over the wall in right field for his seventh home run of the season. The next three batters were eliminated in order, bringing us to the bottom of the ninth inning with Kansas City holding an 8-5 lead. McArthur came in for his second run of the day. Winn led off the inning with a single on a bouncer that probably would have been a double if not for a great save by Garcia at third. But McArthur tightened the screws, recording the final three outs without drama to secure the 8-5 victory.
The doubleheader sweep improves the Royals’ record to 51-43. It’s the first time the Royals have won a series in St. Louis since 2018. They have tomorrow off before traveling to Boston for a three-game series against the Red Sox.
Michael Wacha: 5.0 innings, 7 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 1 hit
Gordon Graceffo: 3.1 innings, 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 1 hit
Kyle Isbel: 2-3, HR, BB, 3 R, RBI
Lars Nootbaar: 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, RBI