It is safe to say that Tuesday’s 13-7 loss to the Indians provided the lowest point of the season for the Royals. Kansas City took a 7-2 lead into the top of the ninth, only to see it annihilated with an 11-run inning. To make matters worse, the game-tying run was scored on a dropped fly ball—one of three errors in the inning.
Closer Mike MacDougal ran into trouble early on in the ninth, when he allowed the first three batters he faced to reach with base hits and the Indians scored the first two runs of the rally. After striking out Jhonny Peralta, MacDougal then allowed an RBI single to Victor Martinez to make it 7-5.
Travis Hafner, who doubled earlier in the inning, scored on Angel Berroa’s fielding error, but Ramon Vazquez, who was running for Martinez, was out at second. It was now 7-6 with two outs.
That’s when Jeff Liefer lifted a fly ball to the warning track in left field which should have been the third and final out of the game, but Chip Ambres dropped it and Belliard scored from first. That tied the game at 8-8.
Aaron Boone was up next and doubled in Liefer to give Cleveland the lead for good. That’s when Mike MacDougal was pulled for Jimmy Gobble, who allowed a two run single to Grady Sizemore and a three-run homer to Peralta, who recorded the first out of the inning.
In all, the Indians scored 11 runs by sending 14 batters to the plate, getting eight hit and two walks. Thanks to the three errors, only three of those 11 runs were earned.
MacDougal (2-4) pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed six hits and seven runs–three of them earned.
Before the collapse, Mike Sweeney belted a three-run homer in the second inning to give the Royals a 4-0 lead. It was his 18th home run of the season. Emil Brown drove in two runs, including an RBI single in the fifth, which put the Royals on top 6-1.
The loss is Kansas City’s 11th straight, which is one shy of the team record, set in 1997.