Ian Kinsler delivers the game winner for a second time against the Royals in a series finale (photo/MLB)
Former Missouri Tiger Ian Kinsler doubled home two runs in a four-run eighth as the Detroit Tigers sent ten men to the plate and beat the Kansas City Royals 7-4 Wednesday night, ending the Royals’ eight-game home winning streak, and current five-game win streak.
Manager Ned Yost pins this loss on himself as he stuck with starter Edinson Volquez one batter too many. Leading 4-2, Volquez was rolling along and ran into trouble. After setting down 13 straight batters entering the eighth, Volquez gave up a leadoff single to James McCann. He then walked Anthony Gose. That should have been enough, but Volquez stayed and gave up a cheap Jose Iglesias infield single to load the bases with no outs. Kinsler doubled down the left field line to score McCann and Gose.
Yost said Kelvin Herrera was ready to come in to face Kinsler, but he decided to leave Volquez in the game. J.D. Martinez’s single scored Iglesias. Kinsler scored on a fielder’s choice. Why Yost left his starter in with a tie game on nobody out not only defies baseball logic, but goes against the very principles that Yost believes in when it comes to starting pitching.
“I’ve got a pretty hard fast rule that I don’t let my starter get beat in the eighth inning and I did it there. It cost Eddie a win and cost us a win,” said Yost.
