HOUSTON _ At age 33, Astros reliever Luke Gregerson has crafted a nice little baseball career. He entered Friday night with a career 2.83 ERA. He saved 31 games in 2015. In nine seasons, he has pocketed close to $30 million.
But you can forgive Gregerson if he never wants to see the Royals again. He was there at Kauffman Stadium for the 2014 Wild Card Game. He was on the mound in Game 4 of the American League Division Series in 2015. He was back on the mound in the eighth inning on Saturday night as the Royals struck for six runs in a 7-3 victory at Minute Maid Park.
The victory offered hope after an uninspiring opening week. The meltdown came courtesy of Gregerson, who surrendered six runs on five hits and a pair of blasts from Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez. On the heels of a feeble performance in the season-opening series in Minnesota, the Royals (2-3) secured their first series victory of the season with a second straight win over the Astros.
The eighth-inning charge erased a 2-1 deficit and a week of offensive question marks. Hosmer busted out of an early slump with a booming blast to right-center, while Perez added punctuation mark with his third homer of the season.
Before the power display, the inning had worked almost perfectly. Alcides Escobar drew a leadoff walk. Pinch hitter Mike Moustakas roped a single to left. Pinch runner Raul Mondesi replaced Moustakas, and Drew Butera dropped down a pretty sacrifice bunt.
That brought up left fielder Alex Gordon, who delivered the key two-run double to left field on Friday night. This time, Gordon ripped a two-run double over the head of right fielder George Springer, and the Royals led 3-2.
Lorenzo Cain followed by blooping an RBI single into right field. Hosmer and Perez delivered the knockout combination.
As the offense finally clicked into overdrive, left-hander Danny Duffy held the Astros to just two runs in seven innings in his second start of the season. Duffy did not possess his sharpest stuff, finishing with three strikeouts and two walks. But he evaded heavy trouble all night and backed up Jason Vargas' shutdown performance on Friday night.
Just like that, the Royals sit one game away from .500 heading into Sunday's series finale. At worst, they will enter Monday's home opener with a 2-4 record, a decent outcome after opening the year with three losses in Minnesota.
The victory, of course, was not as easy as the final score indicated. The Astros staked a 2-0 lead after four innings as starter Dallas Keuchel delivered seven strong innings. Houston would not relinquish the lead until the top of the eighth.
Astros catcher Brian McCann ambushed Duffy with nobody out in the third, drilling a first-pitch fastball into the seats in right field. The solo shot came courtesy a 94 mph fastball. It resembled the only run Duffy allowed in the season opener, a first-pitch homer to Minnesota's Miguel Sano. It foreshadowed more trouble across the next two innings. Yet Duffy deftly avoided major damage.
The Astros scored a run in the fourth on a walk and three consecutive singles. But Duffy ended the threat by getting McCann to hit into a double play on a well struck grounder to second baseman Christian Colon. Duffy issued another leadoff walk in the fifth to Houston center fielder Jake Marisnick. Springer followed by smashing a line drive toward third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert, who made an athletic grab. And Duffy quelled the potential rally by picking off Marisnick at first base.
As Duffy fended off the Astros, the Royals offense was tied down by Keuchel, the former Cy Young winner who came back to earth last season.
One season after posting a 2.48 ERA in 232 innings, leading the Astros to a wild-card berth in 2015, Keuchel was human in 2016. His ERA jumped to 4.55. His record dipped to 9-12. His peripheral numbers regressed across the board.
But facing a Royals lineup that had managed just 10 runs in its first four games, he yielded just one run in seven innings.
Fortunately for the Royals, Gregerson was present to pitch the eighth.
