KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The ricochet was violent.
Shortly after Royals starter Ian Kennedy released the four-seam heater in the third inning of his team's 5-2 loss to Milwaukee on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, the ball came back toward him at a speed quicker than he sent it.
Kennedy had no time to react. The Ryan Braun shot hit the front of Kennedy's right foot, with the collision of 106 mile-per-hour liner and Kennedy's blue New Balance shoe sending the ball skyward and nearly 50 feet away from him.
After hanging in the air for more than a second, the ball dropped just in front of catcher Salvador Perez, who had no play as Jonathan Villar scored Milwaukee's first run.
The game, in essence, was decided in the few seconds after that.
Royals trainer Nick Kenney and manager Ned Yost came to the mound to check on Kennedy, who tiptoed a couple times and started to apply pressure, testing the injury to see if he could continue.
After a few warmup tosses, Kennedy convinced Yost he could stay in the game with two on and two out.
Hurt or not, Kennedy wasn't able to execute right after that. Travis Shaw turned around a 2-2 elevated fastball, launching a three-run shot off a billboard in the right-field fountains to push the Brewers' lead to 4-0.
Kennedy's night was over shortly after that. After getting out of the inning by coaxing an Eric Thames fly-out, Kennedy didn't return for the fourth, his short stint snapping a long personal streak.
For each of his first 273 career starts before Tuesday, Kennedy had struck out at least one batter. Only Boston's David Price (274 appearances with a strikeout to start his career) has a current stretch that was longer than Kennedy's entering the game.
If there was any positive for the Royals, it was this: X-rays of Kennedy's right bruised foot showed no break, meaning he's day-to-day and could potentially be available for his next start.
The Royals, in falling to 5-16 on Tuesday, gave 16,555 fans (and 441 dogs during a Bark at the Park night) some reason to believe the immediate future could be brighter. Catcher Salvador Perez, in his return to the lineup, hooked a home run around the left-field foul pole in the fourth, while Alex Gordon laced a solid double to left-center in the fifth, later scoring the Royals' second run on the day he was activated from the disabled list following a hip injury.
There were also moments, though, when the same KC fans couldn't help but have their minds wander back to a pleasant not-so-distant past.
That started before the game's first pitch, when Lorenzo Cain received a standing ovation from Royals fans in his first return to KC after signing a free-agent contract with the Brewers this offseason.
Cain reminded fans a glimpse of his diverse skill set after that. He glided to right-center to rob Jorge Soler of an extra-base hit in the fourth, then did one of his famous "lean back" poses after connecting with a Burch Smith fastball in the seventh, sending it over the fence in right field for a solo shot.
Royals fans, initially unsure how to respond, slowly began to cheer Cain as he took the final turns on his home-run trot.
KC failed to muster any additional offense after the fifth, scoring two runs or fewer for the ninth time in 21 games.
