KC bats go silent, defense falters in loss to Houston

A pair of first-inning errors paved the way for a 3-0 Houston lead, leading to a 4-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. KC had four hits in the loss.

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August 25, 2021 - 10:51 AM

The Houston Astros' Carlos Correa (1) is tagged out by Kansas City Royals infielder Emmanuel Rivera at third base as Correa attempted to advance in the fifth inning at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, in Houston. (Bob Levey/Getty Images/TNS)

HOUSTON (AP) — Luis Garcia pitched into the seventh inning and two relievers completed a four-hitter to lead the Houston Astros over the Kansas City Royals 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Garcia (10-6) struck out seven and scattered four hits across 6 2/3 sharp innings.

“He was very, very aggressive in the strike zone,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “He was masterful.”

Ryne Stanek got the next four outs before Kendall Graveman worked a perfect ninth. Houston increased its AL West lead to 4 1/2 games over Oakland, which has lost four straight.

Carlos Correa had two hits and two RBIs to help the Astros snap a two-game skid and improve to 2-4 against the Royals this season after dropping Monday’s series opener 7-1. Houston lost three of four in Kansas City last week.

Houston’s strong pitching performance cooled off the hot-hitting Royals, who had scored 26 runs during a four-game winning streak.

Royals starter Brady Singer (3-9) permitted seven hits and four runs in five innings, but just one was earned after his defense committed two costly errors in the first.

“You’d like to think when you have an inning like that you’re going to bounce back and it doesn’t set the tone, but it did,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Brady did a great job of fighting through, but a couple plays that we normally make (hurt).”

Jose Altuve reached on a fielding error by first baseman Ryan O’Hearn to start Houston’s first, and Michael Brantley walked before a one-out walk to Yuli Gurriel loaded the bases.

The Astros took a 1-0 lead when Altuve scored on a groundout by Correa.

Aledmys Díaz singled on a ball hit to shortstop Nicky Lopez and he made a throwing error that allowed two more runs to score, making it 3-0.

Correa was happy to see the Astros take advantage of the miscues early after their recent struggles against the Royals.

“It was huge,” he said. “We caught a break and scored some runs there and it was enough to win the game.”

Kansas City had runners at second and third with none out in the third but failed to score. Michael A. Taylor tried a straight steal of home but was tagged out to end the inning.

“Hitting really does set the tone for our club, and we miss an opportunity like that one, it puts us into a worse spot,” Matheny said. “It affects us and unfortunately, we let that slip by.”

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