Royals fight hard but drop 11th straight at Kauffman 5-4 to Dodgers

By MATT PIKE

The Kansas City Royals produced runs after consecutive shutout losses, holding the lead until the fifth inning before Kansas City dropped their 11th straight game at Kauffman Stadium, losing 5-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. 

A leadoff home run from Shohei Ohtani off of Royals starter Noah Cameron gave the Dodger the lead to start the game.  In the bottom half of the opening inning the Royals tied things up though after Salvador Perez drove in Maikel Garcia with an RBI single, after Garcia doubled earlier in the inning. 

With the game tied, Los Angeles took the lead back in the second inning on another home run, a two run blast from Max Muncy, driving in Tommy Edman.  But again in the bottom half of the inning, the Royals offense scored runs, taking their first lead of the game, first cutting the lead to one on an RBI double by Kyle Isble, scoring John Rave, before Isbel scored on a two run home run by Bobby Witt Jr. 

The Dodgers took the lead back in the fifth inning off of Cameron.  Cameron walked Enrique Hernández to open the inning, before Ohtani drove in Hernández to tie up the game with a triple.  Ohtani scored the go ahead run on an RBI single by Mookie Betts off reliever Steven Cruz who replaced Cameron. 

The Royals did have a golden opportunity to tie up the game in the ninth inning, having the bases loaded after singles by Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez and a walk to Vinnie Pasquantino, but rookie Jac Caglianone grounded into a game ending double play.  Aside from the ninth, the Royals only had one other inning after losing the lead with a runner in scoring position, in the seventh when Pasquantino doubled. 

Cameron took the loss, falling to 2-4 on the season, pitching four innings and giving up five runs on three hits, striking out four and walking three.  At the plate, Perez was 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI.  Isbel was also 2-for-3 with the double and an RBI, while Garcia was 2-for-5 with a run scored. 

Kansas City and Los Angeles continue their series tomorrow.  Seth Lugo (4-5, 2.93 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 4.50 ERA) for the Dodgers.  First pitch is at 3:10pm, pregame coverage starts at 2:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.