KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Houston Astros came to Kauffman Stadium on Monday with the American League's second-best record. The Royals? They had lost five of six at home and occupied last place in the AL Central.
Any thoughts baseball fans may have had about a lopsided matchup in the series proved misguided.
Houston scratched out a 6-3 win in 10 innings Thursday, avoiding a four-game sweep.
Houston took advantage of wildness from Royals reliever Wade Davis, who started the 10th inning and failed to record an out.
Davis allowed two singles sandwiched around a walk and that brought home designated runner Yuli Gurriel to give Houston its first lead of the game, 4-3.
A bases-loaded walk by Ervin Santana and a sacrifice fly brought home two more runs in the inning.
Despite the loss, shortstop Nicky Lopez had a game to remember.
Thursday marked 144 days since Lopez had been sent to Triple-A Omaha near the end of spring training, a move that seems difficult to believe now.
An injury to shortstop Adalberto Mondesi changed the plan for Lopez, who started the season at shortstop and he has been one of the Royals' best players.
Manager Mike Matheny proclaimed Lopez a Gold Glove candidate, and Lopez leads the team in on-base percentage.
On Thursday, Lopez hit a two-run home run into the Royals bullpen in right field in the third inning. It was Lopez's first homer since Aug. 8, 2020, a span of 464 at-bats.
In the fifth inning, Lopez stung the Astros with his glove.
First he dived to his right and snared a ball that traveled 144.4 mph off the bat of Houston third baseman Jacob Wilson. Two batters later Lopez sprinted in and snared a slower roller hit by first baseman Yuli Gurriel and got the out.
Lopez had seven fielding assists in the game.
Royals starting pitcher Mike Minor limited the Astros to a run on four hits over the first five innings before running into trouble. Houston got three straight hits, including consecutive RBI doubles by Aledyms Diaz and Chas McCormick to tie the game.
The Royals' Domingo Tapia came on in relief and extinguished the fire. Joel Payamps pitched a scoreless frame, and Richard Lovelady tossed 1 1/3 innings without allowing a run before Josh Staumont took over in the ninth and got the final two outs.
