Miranda Comes Up Big in Royals Win – Total Apex Sports…
Padres manager Mike Shildt is quick to point out the fact his team is winning a lot of series, which is true. They’ve won eight of their last 11 series, which is an important part of having a winning season. However, in two of those series losses the Friars have been swept so it’s important that they do a little sweeping of their own to balance that out.
San Diego lost another chance to sweep a set on Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 setback to the Royals in Kansas City, the 5th time they’ve been in position to win every game of a series and failed to do so on the final day. This one featured a blown save by Yuki Matsui that actually has roots in Friday night’s series opening win (I’ll explain that in a second).
What makes it even worse is they might have lost their 2-time batting champion for a little while. In the 5th inning Luis Arraez, who leads the Majors Leagues with a .340 average, singled home Jose Azocar to tie the game 1-1. He was thrown out trying to take 2nd base and got up very slowly, favoring his left side. Shildt said Arraez felt something in his shoulder and neck but the club doesn’t yet know exactly how bad it is or if he’ll have to miss any time.
The Friars took a 3-1 lead in the 8th inning on RBI singles from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, setting up a save chance in the 9th and that takes us back to Friday night. San Diego had an 11-3 lead in the final frame but Stephen Kolek was so bad, allowing five runs, that Shildt went to closer Robert Suarez on a night where he should have never even picked up a baseball. Suarez also got the save on Saturday so he wasn’t available on Sunday.
That left 9th inning duties to Yuki Matsui, who is one of the best closers in the history of Japan. He wasn’t great in Missouri. Matsui gave up a single and a walk then Nelson Velasquez got him for a 2-run triple to tie it up. Nick Loftin brought home Velasquez with a sacrifice fly to win it, giving Yuki a loss without even recording an out.
