The fifth inning served as the major sticking point for Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch, and it proved the pivotal point for the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.
Lynch gave up all five of the runs against him in the fifth inning of a 5-3 Royals loss to the Guardians in front of an announced crowd of 19,455 in the fifth game of the season-ending six-game series at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Royals (65-96) will try to finish the season with a victory and earn a series split on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch will be at 3:10 p.m. CT.
The AL Central Division champions Guardians (91-7) have won 11 of 18 meetings between the teams this season.
Royals rookie infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton went 2 for 3 and scored both of the Royals’ runs. Infielder Nicky Lopez went 1 for 3 with an RBI, and rookie first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino went 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Rookie second baseman Michael Massey had an RBI.
Lynch (4-13) tossed four scoreless innings and stranded five runners on base through the first four innings.
However, he allowed five hits in the fifth, the last coming in the form of a two-run home run by Guardians first baseman Owen Miller with two outs.
Lynch went 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks. He also struck out two.
Lynch, who made his 27th start of the season and 41st in the majors, entered the game having gone 0-2 with an 8.66 ERA in four career starts against the Guardians. That marked his highest ERA against any opponent.
The Royals had won just two of his previous nine starts.
Overall this season through his first 26 starts, Lynch posted a 4.96 ERA with a 1.55 WHIP, a .286 opponent’s batting average, 8.5 strikeouts per 9 innings and 3.5 walks per 9 innings. He tossed 127 innings through those starts, an average of just shy of five innings per starts (4.88).
He’d turned in three quality starts coming into his final outing of the season.
The Royals scored first when they pushed a run across in the top of the fifth. Eaton hit a two-out single, and then he sped around the bases and scored from first on a bloop single by Lopez.
Eaton entered the day having slashed .321/.391/.446 (18-for-56) with six walks, five extra-base hits, nine RBI and nine stolen bases in his previous 22 games.
The five-run bottom half of the inning quickly swung the game in the Guardians’ favor.
The Royals tacked on a run in the eighth when Eaton singled, advanced to second a groundout, took third on a wild pitch and then scored on another wild pitch.
In the ninth inning, the Royals scored a third run after Pasquantino singled, went first-to-third on a throwing error and scored on an RBI groundout.
The tying run came to the plate twice in the ninth with a runner aboard, but Guardians All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase struck out the final two batters of the game to record his 42nd save of the season.
Royals prospects recognized
Baseball America announced its minor-league All-Star teams for each level of the minors, with 10 position players (including the designated hitter) and six pitchers (five starts, one reliever) having earned recognition.
Royals slugger Vinnie Pasquantino, who debuted in the majors on June 27, made the Triple-A club as the selection at first base. In 73 games with Omaha, Pasquantino slashed .277/.371/.561 with 18 home runs and 70 RBIs.
Outfielder Tyler Gentry garnered a spot on the Double-A All-Star club. Gentry, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals’ Player of the Year, played 73 games at Double-A after a promotion from High-A Quad Cities. Gentray slashed .321/.417/.555 (88-for-274), with 16 home runs, 32 extra-base hits and 63 RBIs.
Right-handed pitcher Emmanuel Reyes of the Royals Dominican Summer League club claimed a spot on the Rookie Complex All-Star squad. Reyes, 18, earned the Royals’ Dominican Summer League Pitcher of the Year honor in his first professional season.
He posted a 0.91 ERA, a 0.67 WHIP, 52 strikeouts and just four walks for a 13-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 12 games (11 starts). His WHIP was the lowest among qualifiers in the DSL, while his ERA ranked second and his opponents’ batting average (.162) third.
