The Kansas City Royals stranded runners in scoring position three times, as the offense struggled to convert opportunities in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Mets at Kauffman Stadium.

Juan Soto collected his 23rd home run of the year in the fourth inning to make the score 2-0 Mets, tagging Jonathan Bowlan with the loss. Bowlan pitched three innings and allowed four hits but struck out four, as the Royals relied entirely on the bullpen with Kris Bubic preparing to represent the Royals at Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Jeff McNeil added an RBI single in the ninth to wrap up the Mets’ scoring.

Jonathan India led off the first with a double, only for Mets starter Frankie Montas to retire the next three batters. India would have another double, this time in the sixth inning to bring home Kyle Isbel for what turned out to be the only Royals run. But as before, India would end up stranded at second. A leadoff walk to Salvador Perez in the seventh, followed by a hit by pitch to Nick Loftin, set the Royals up for a prime opportunity to tie or take the lead. However, Chris Devenski would get a forceout and ground to leave Perez stranded at third. Bobby Witt Jr attempted to steal second after a walk in the eighth, but was deemed out after video review. In all, the Royals left five on base and went one-for-nine with runners in scoring position.

Montas claimed the win, going five innings and allowing one run on four hits with five strikeouts, while Edwin Díaz claimed his 19th save of the year.

The Royals are now 46-50, 13 games behind Detroit for the AL Central lead and four-and-a-half games behind Seattle for the third wild card spot. Noah Cameron will get the start Sunday afternoon as the Royals seek to avoid another sweep at home heading into the All-Star Break; pregame is at 12:30 p.m. on KMMO AM 1300, with first pitch at 1:10 p.m.