The Kansas City Royals had invented ways to lose games during their eight-game skid, but it was the Baltimore Orioles and reliever Ryan Helsley who came up with a wild way to end the streak, allowing the Royals to walk it off with a wild pitch in a 6-5 win Tuesday, Apr. 21 at Kauffman Stadium.
Helsley came in the ninth with the score tied at five, then proceeded to walk Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. A wild pitch during the at-bat to Vinnie Pasquantino advanced the runners. Then with a one-two count to Salvador Perez, Helsley hurled a pitch outside and in the dirt, prompting catcher Adley Rutschman to recover the ball in the infield. With no one covering home, Garcia made a run for it, comfortably sliding in for the game-winner.
The win came after a back-and-forth contest that saw the Royals fall behind early on a three-run home run by Coby Mayo that barely cleared the left foul pole in the second inning. The Royals clawed back with a Michael Massey sacrifice fly in the home half of the inning that scored Carter Jansen. KC then tied it up in the fifth with a single by Garcia and sac fly from Pasquantino. Another sacrifice fly in the seventh, this one from Witt, allowed KC to take the lead when Kyle Isbel scored. The lead would not last, as Rutschman claimed his first home run of the year in the eighth to give Baltimore a 5-4 lead. The Royals struck back quickly when Massey cleared the right-field fence.
The home run in the second was the only set of runs allowed by Kris Bubic in his six-inning start. He allowed five hits and three walks while striking out three. The win went to Lucas Erceg who allowed one walk in the ninth but secured a double play. Helsley took his second loss of the year while start Shane Bax pitched into the seventh, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks while recording four punchouts.
The Royals are now 8-16 and will look to start a winning streak when Michael Wacha gets the start Wednesday against Chris Bassitt. Pregame is at 12:30 p.m., with first pitch at 1:10 p.m., on KMMO AM 1300.