Final Score: KC 2 | HOU 7

Overall Record: 75-63

Winning/Losing Pitcher

• W: Ronel Blanco (2-0 | 3.50 ERA)
• L: Alec Marsh (14-8 | 3.19 ERA)

Royals Player of the Game

Bobby Witt Jr.

1-4. HR (30), RBI, BB

Bob gets this title because 30th homer on the season. Continuing to the remarkable start to his career that we cannot wait to see unravel. He becomes the ever Royal to have back to back 30 homer seasons in only his third season in the bigs. He will continue his quest to have another 30/30 season, but most importantly his health. With what has been happening the past couple days, wrap this guy in bubble wrap down the stretch. The Royals need him to continue his dominance to keep this magic going in Kansas City. 

Key Highlights

This one started off slow, with both starters doing their thing in this one. Alec Marsh was looking fantastic while he was attacking hitters. Using his sweeper as his main weapon and  it was unhittable. Making Jose Altuve look like a child as he reached out in front, completely confused. Marsh finished going five innings and giving up 3 runs. But Ronel Blanco also kept the Royals in check. Going five scoreless innings against a lineup that featured a couple of the new Royals added the past couple days. And the additions were honestly the best part of the afternoon. Tommy Pham had two hits on the afternoon, and Yuli Gurriel had a key RBI single in the sixth. 

It’ll be interesting to see how everyone plays down the stretch. This team is now full of veterans that have experience, so we’ll see what happens here as we get closer. The rest of the offense on the afternoon was a Bobby Witt Jr. home run, his 30th of the season. But it was all Astros in this one. Yordan Alvarez leading the way, with two solo homers in this one, and almost had three. But his two bombs were an explanation of how dangerous he is as a hitter. Down and away on the fourth inning homer, and off-speed on the outside part of the plate on his bomb in the sixth. Just an absolute beast in the making, a modern day David Ortiz. This one really came crashing down in the bottom of the eighth. Even though they were already down by two headed into the inning, it was the nail in the coffin that officially ended it. John Schrieber gave up three runs to the five hitters he faced. So just an overall crappy way to finish off the roadtrip, getting swept out of Houston and being tied once again with Minnesota in the division race. Cleveland comes to town next though, with a chance to gain some ground. 

Summary of the Next Game

That being said, the Boys are back home on Monday against the Guardians. A huge opportunity to gain some ground, and to break out of this slump that has been happening for a second now. This is the first five game losing streak of the season for the Royals, and Michael Wacha will head to the mound to try to end the skid. His last time out was against these Cleveland Guardians and he looked incredible through six until he went out for the seventh and ended up giving up five earned runs. He is the ace that needs to step up for this team now, as they continue their pennant race. Gavin Williams is on the bump for Cleveland, and he did well in his last start on Tuesday against the Royals. He got the loss, but only gave up two in his five innings of work. The Royals will try to rough him up again, as they try to break this five game skid. It is a very different looking Royals squad than it has been all season, and hopefully the veteran presence they added will help them in the long run. It’s a 3:10p first pitch because of the labor day holiday, go out and see the boys if you can. They need a spark to keep it going, and there’s no better time than at the ballpark.