By MATT PIKE
Relying on their bullpen to carry them through the game, the Kansas City Royals fell in a pitchers duel with the New York Mets, losing 3-1 at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
With Michael Lorenzen scratched from his start due to illness, Angel Zerpa started the game, and pitched just one inning before Jonathan Bowlan took the mound in the second inning for the Royals. Bowlan allowed just one hit, a double to Luis Torrens, through the second and third innings before the Mets found the scoreboard in the fourth.
Francisco Lindor singled off Bowlan to start the fourth inning, and stole second base to get into scoring position, but would not need much to score as Juan Soto smashed a ball 435 feet to right field to give New York a 2-0 lead. Bowlan recovered from the home run, getting Pete Alonso to lineout, before giving up a single to Mark Vientos, but then forced Jeff McNeil to flyout and struck Tyrone Taylor out.
John Schreiber replaced Bowlan in the fifth and pitched two scoreless hitless innings, striking out two, before he would be replaced by Steven Cruz who also added a hitless inning of relief from the bullpen. The Royals did add their one run in the sixth inning with back to back doubles by Kyle Isbel and Jonathan India.
Sam Long surrendered no hits in 2/3 of an inning, striking out two as well, but did walk one before being replaced by Lucas Erceg who finished out the eighth inning. In the ninth inning Erceg surrendered the final run to the Mets, giving up a double to Alonso who would score after a single by McNeil.
Bowlan took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season, pitching three innings and giving up four hits and two runs while striking out four. At the plate, India was 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI as Kansas City had just four hits on the afternoon.
Kansas City and New York wrap up their series tomorrow before the All Star Break. Noah Cameron (3-4, 2.56 ERA) pitches the first half finale for the Royals against Clay Holmes (8-4, 3.29 ERA) for the Mets. First pitch is at 1:10pm, pregame coverage will begin at 12:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
