More bad news on a Sunday afternoon. After being blown out last night, today’s game followed much the same script.
The Royals’ starter, this time Seth Lugo, gritted his teeth through five innings and had the Royals only down by one entering the sixth inning. Manager Matt Quatraro, wary of using his bullpen, asked the starter to pitch the sixth despite an escalating pitch count, needing to face the order a third time through, and generally not being particularly dominant prior to that inning.
As before, Lugo couldn’t get the job done and the Phillies scored three in the inning before blowing it open in the eighth inning with Will Smith on the mound.