The struggling Kansas City Royals will try to avoid a three-game sweep against the host Washington Nationals when they conclude their series on Wednesday afternoon.
The Royals rallied to tie Tuesday’s game in the seventh only to see Curtis Mead smack a three-run homer in the bottom half of the inning. The Nationals went on to record a 6-4 victory.
To add injury to insult, third baseman Maikel Garcia left the game in the sixth inning with left hand soreness.
“He’s been dealing with some left hand soreness and it bothers him sometimes when he fouls a ball off or swings and misses,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said after the game. “And it just flared up on him today more so than usual.”
The Royals have lost six of seven games overall and fell to 12-24 on the road. Their .392 winning percentage is last in the American League.
Luinder Avila (1-3, 6.19 ERA) has the task of trying to cool the Washington offense Wednesday afternoon. He will be opposed by fellow right-hander Zack Littell (6-5, 5.32).
Avila will be making his 14th appearance of the season and fourth consecutive start.
After two strong outings, he was torched by the Houston Astros on Friday. He allowed eight runs on five hits — including two homers by Yordan Alvarez — and three walks in just two-thirds of an inning.
“Tough inning,” Avila said through a translator. “I was prepared. It didn’t turn out to be like the last two starts, but you have to face it head on.”
Avila, 23, threw one scoreless inning against Washington last season.
Littell, meanwhile, saw a very impressive string of appearances come to end on Friday.
After seven outings in which he allowed two earned runs or fewer, Littell yielded five runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings in a 10-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
“I think that’s what’s frustrating about baseball in general, to have the stuff, command to feel good like I did tonight and the result not been there,” Littell said.
Littell is 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA in 12 career games (one start) versus the Royals.
Kansas City saw its bullpen come up short on Tuesday.
The Royals added veteran reliever Connor Seabold in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. Seabold, 30, has a 0-1 record with a 4.05 ERA in 17 appearances this season.
Quartraro said Seabold gives the team another middle reliever with experience.
Bobby Witt Jr. went 3-for-4 with an RBI Tuesday and Lane Thomas homered against his former team.
Washington has scored 31 runs while winning four straight games. In addition to Mead’s heroics Tuesday, Nasim Nunez made a diving catch, had two triples, two walks, stole a base and scored three runs.
“My best big league performance, in my opinion,” the 25-year-old Nunez said. “It was pretty cool. I showed off all my tools, and then we came out with the win — and even bigger, a series win at home.”
Washington has won four consecutive series and improved to 16-21 at home.
–Field Level Media
