How Adam Frazier saved the Kansas City Royals, down to their final 2 outs vs. Angels
The Kansas City Royals were down to their last chance. Nothing had gone right all night against the Los Angeles Angels.
The offense had hit a cold spell. Royals stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez, who celebrated his 34th birthday, were a combined 0-for-7.
Angels starter Griffin Canning deserved much of the credit. He’s had the Royals’ number, posting a 1.82 ERA in four career starts against KC. On Friday, Canning lowered those numbers even further. He tossed 5 ⅔ scoreless innings in a stellar outing.
But the Royals kept fighting.
In the ninth inning, KC finally broke through as Adam Frazier hit a go-ahead two-run homer. It was his first with the club as the Royals pulled out a 2-1 victory.
“(Angels closer Carlos Estévez’s) fastball kind of angles away from lefties,” Frazier said. “(I was) just trying to get him in the zone. Once we got 2-0, I felt pretty good as he was probably going to try to use the heater. I was honestly trying to stay on one and hit it back up the middle. And I just kind of reacted.”
Prior to Frazier’s home run, the Royals had been silenced.
KC registered seven hits as MJ Melendez was the lone starter to find success against Canning. Melendez finished 3-for-4 and recorded a triple in the second inning.
Angels outfielder Jo Adell produced their lone run. In the fifth inning, Adell hit a solo home run off Royals starter Alec Marsh. The baseball traveled 436 feet and registered a 111.9 mph exit velocity.
Marsh earned a no-decision on Friday night. He returned from a right elbow contusion that sidelined him on the 15-day injured list. He allowed four hits, two walks and struck out seven batters.
“I felt confident coming into this game,” Marsh said. “There’s obviously things you can always continue to work on. I feel like the pitch to Adell was a pitch you wish you had back. ... Other than that, I thought (the start) was great.”
Marsh worked around two errors and kept the Angels at bay. In the second inning, he recorded three consecutive strikeouts to quell an early threat.
The Royals bullpen held serve late. They kept the Angels off the scoreboard as Royals reliever John Schreiber picked up the save.
KC improved to 24-16, taking the first two games of the four-game series.
Missed previous Royals coverage?
Game 1: Michael Wacha, Dairon Blanco shine in Royals victory over Angels
Close Call: Royals find success in several close games this season
Here are more notables from Friday’s game:
What a relief
The Royals turned to reliever Chris Stratton to clean up a sixth-inning mess.
Los Angeles was threatening with two runners on base. Marsh, who had piled up 85 pitches, walked two batters in his return start, both in the sixth.
With Angels catcher Matt Thaiss due up in the batting order, Royals manager Matt Quatraro made the call to the bullpen; Stratton came in with a directive to strand both baserunners.
And he did just that.
“We have no margin for error,” Quatraro said. “We hadn’t scored and every pitch all the relievers made could be considered the turning point in the game.”
Stratton got Thaiss to roll a ground ball down the first-base line. He fielded the baseball and threw over to first.
Next, Stratton struck out Adell to end the frame. He got Adell with a four-seam fastball after a six-pitch at-bat. The Angels were turned away as Stratton threw five strikes in nine pitches.
Not worth the squeeze
The Angels looked to scratch across an early run in the third inning. The situation was set in their favor as Angels infielder Luis Guillorme was standing at third base.
Guillorme led off the inning with a double. Two batters later, he advanced to third base as the Angels were in an advantageous spot. But it was short-lived.
Angels outfielder Mickey Moniak failed to execute a squeeze play as Guillorme came barreling towards home plate.
Moniak popped the baseball in the air. Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia caught the ball in the air and tossed it to teammate Bobby Witt Jr. as he tagged third base.
The Angels were turned away on the double play. Marsh escaped trouble as the game remained scoreless.
“It’s just a huge momentum-shifter,” Marsh said. “I think it allowed us to come back later in the game. We were in it the whole time and no one thought we were losing that game.”
What’s next on the KC Royals schedule?
The Royals continue their four-game series against the Angels. On Saturday, Royals southpaw Cole Ragans will start against Angels hurler Tyler Anderson.
Ragans owns a 3.38 ERA in eight starts this season. He allowed two earned runs and struck out eight batters in his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers.
This story was originally published May 10, 2024, 11:33 PM.
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