Alec Marsh, Royals’ bullpen dig a hole too big to climb out of, lose 10-8

The Royals kept coming back, but it wasn’t enough

Kansas City saved one of its longest games of the season for Independence Day, as the Royals and Rays went back and forth in the decisive third game of the series. The game lasted over three hours and featured runs in 10 half innings, but a four-run hole was too much for the Kansas City offense to climb out of.

With the pitching staff struggling, the offense tried to rescue them but fell short, losing 10-8 in a shootout.

Kansas City fell to 48-41 with the series loss, while Tampa got back above .500 at 44-43.

Royals starter Alec Marsh struggled from the get-go, walking the first two Rays he faced. After a pop-out, Marsh balled to put runners at 2nd and 3rd, leading to Randy Arozarena’s RBI groundout. A Josh Lowe RBI double pushed the Rays 1st inning lead to 2-0.

They were right back at it in the 2nd, with Jonny DeLuca wrapping a 3-2 Marsh sinker around the left field foul pole to lead off the inning. Up 3-0, Tampa added another run on two more singles to go up 4-0.

Michael Massey’s 8th homer of the year cut the lead to 4-1 in the 2nd, but the Rays got the run right back, this time courtesy of a DeLuca two-out RBI single, extending Tampa’s lead back to 5-1. That would be all from Marsh for the evening, giving up six hits and three walks while throwing 75 pitches to record his nine outs.

Despite his struggles, Kansas City’s offense kept hanging in. Freddy Fermin’s 5th bunt single of the year started the Royals half of the 3rd, moving to 3rd on Nick Loftin’s double. Bobby Witt Jr drove Fermin in with a sac fly before Vinnie Pasquantino made it a 5-3 game on an RBI single.

As was the case for most of the night, though, every Royals run was matched with a Rays run. Carlos Hernandez opened up the 5th with three consecutive walks. Taylor Walls brought in Brandon Lowe on a sac fly before striking out DeLuca. Matt Quatraro replaced Hernandez with Will Smith with two outs to face Ben Rortvedt, who promptly singled in two more runs, making it 8-3.

The Royals made it an 8-4 game in the 5th before the two squads exchanged runs in the 6th, this time with Kansas City denting Tampa’s lead. Entering the inning down 9-4, a fielding error led to a Hunter Renfroe RBI single, scoring on Garrett Hampson’s pinch-hit double to make it 9-6. Fermin was hit by a pitch, putting two on with nobody out.

Maikel Garcia pinch hit for Isbel, facing the left-handed Garrett Cleavinger. Garcia flew out before the Rays turned to old friend Jason Adam to face the top of the order. A Loftin RBI groundout made it a 9-7 game, before Witt Jr’s single put runners on the corner with two outs. However, the inning ended with Vinnie at the plate when Bob got caught trying to steal 2nd.

Tampa Bay immediately got a run back, albeit with two outs. Nick Anderson got the first two Rays in the 7th he and Angel Zerpa surrendered back-to-back-to-back singles, the last of which drove in a run and put Tampa up 10-7.

Both offenses quieted down in the final two frames, with the exception of a two-out Bobby homer in the 9th, making it 10-8. However, it was too little too late, as Pete Fairbanks shut the door in the 9th to seal the game. Kansas City heads to Colorado next, still holding onto a wild card spot.

Up Next: Royals at Rockies, Friday, July 5, 7:10 PM, Coors Field. LHP Cole Ragans (5-6, 3.33 ERA) v. LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 7.94 ERA)