Anemic Royals offense remains scoreless in 2-0 loss to Twins

Apr 1, 2023 - 10:36 PM

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The Royals have played two games in the 2023 season and still have yet to score a run, as they dropped another 2-0 loss to the Twins on Saturday. According to Pete Grathoff, their 18 scoreless innings to begin the season is the longest scoring drought in club history.

The anemic offense ruined what was a solid start in his Royals debut from Jordan Lyles. Over 5 ¹⁄₃ innings he gave up just two runs - one earned - with two strikeouts and two walks and five hits allowed. The bullpen was also very effective with 3 ²⁄₃ shutout innings, with both Taylor Clarke and Aroldis Chapman each striking out the side.

The Twins got on the board in the first with a two out rally. After Lyles retired the first two hitters, Byron Buxton laced a line drive to left and took a gamble to stretch it into a double. Nate Eaton made a good throw from left, but it got past Nicky Lopez and Buxton was safe at second. After a walk to Trevor Larnach, Jose Miranda looped one off the end of the bat for an RBI single to score Buxton and make it 1-0 Minnesota.

The Twins added another run in the sixth when the Royals got sloppy. Buxton led off with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball from Salvador Perez. With one out, Jose Miranda hit a groundball to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Buxton dashed for third and Witt could have made a solid throw to get him, or thrown over to first to get the second out of the inning. Instead, he hesitated and made a throw slightly off target, allowing Buxton to reach safely with no outs recorded. Pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer lifted a sac fly off reliever Ryan Yarbrough to plate the second run of the day for the Twins.

The Royals had several scoring opportunities, as Twins starter Sonny Gray was erratic with his control at times. The Royals walked the bases loaded in the third, but Franmil Reyes struck out to end the threat. The next inning, the Royals had runners at first and second with no out, but squandered the opportunity with a ground out force and a double play. They hit the ball hard all day, but managed just four hits.

The Royals will try to score their first run on Sunday afternoon against Joe Ryan, with Brad Keller going for Kansas City with first pitch at 1:10 CT.