The Kansas City Royals failed in their bid to make it three wins in a row as they dropped a 9-8 decision to the Florida Marlins Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Marlins wasted little time getting to Kansas City starter Jorge De La Rosa. Alfredo Amezaga doubled and then scored on Dan Uggla’s double. Uggla, who took third on a ground ball out, scored on Josh Willingham single to put the Fish on top 2-0 before the Royals ever came to the plate.
But when the Royals came up in their half of the 1st inning, they tied the game at 2. Fernando Cortez, whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday, made his first plate appearance in a Kansas City uniform. He mad it count as he singled, went to second on a Rick Vanden Hurk wild pitch, and scored along with Mark Teahen, who had walked, on a Mike Sweeney double.
The Royals moved on top 3-2 in the 2nd on a 422-foot home run to center field by John Buck, his 11th homer of the season. The lead was short lived, though, as the Marlins put together back-to-back-to-back hits to score the tieing run.
Florida then scored four runs in the 5th, two of them on a 417-foot home run by Miguel Cabrera, his 15th homer of the year, to take a 7-3 lead.
The Marlins’ assault on Kansas City pitching wasn’t over yet. In the 6th, Miguel Cabrera came up with a runner on, as he did in the previous inning. And, as in the previous inning, he hit a home run. This time a 394-foot blast.
The Royals got back into the game in the 7th, scoring three runs, chasing starter Rick Vanden Hurk.
Kansas City got to within two runs in the 8th on a solo homer by John Buck, his second of the night, into the Florida bullpen.
The Royals scored a run in the 9th, but could draw no closer than to within one.
Vanden Hurk (2-2) pitched gave up 5 earned runs in 6 innings to pick up the win. Kevin Gregg earned his 11th save. De La Rosa (4-7) took the loss.
The Royals (27-42) and Marlins (33-36) wrap up their weekend series Sunday afternoon at the K. Brian Bannister (3-3) pitches for Kansas City against Florida’s Scott Olsen (5-5).
Download/Listen: Manager Buddy Bell’s post game comments (4:30 MP3)