Boxscore Breakdown #117: Royal blue balls – Royals 4, Angels 3

After so much strife and consternation with this road trip, the Angels had a golden opportunity to split the series with the league-leading Royals. That’s nothing to brag about, but something that could’ve served as a stepping stone for the Angels getting their confidence back. They were even given the rare and special gift of a home run allowed by Wade Davis to give the Angels a late lead but they looked that gift horse right in the mouth, poked around in there and tried to do some flossing.

Those potential good feelings started to fade with Huston Street‘s blown save and disappeared completely the second Kendrys Morales, of all people, walked it off. Now instead of heading home with a bit of confidence, the Halos are returning to Anaheim out of a playoff spot and feeling like their season is on the verge of disaster.

Royals 4, Angels 3

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1TkZJDIuSUBZMrYHZUi8i7EFNTuEik7feRmGzrJl36u0/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Hey, what do you know? The Angels once again faced a struggling pitcher and made him look like an ace. Ventura is a talented guy, but he’s had a lot of trouble over the last few months. This game though, he looked like the staff leader the Royals hoped he would be. Good work, Angels! Everyone but Kole Calhoun and David Murphy pretty much took a dump.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1TkZJDIuSUBZMrYHZUi8i7EFNTuEik7feRmGzrJl36u0/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Not a great day for the KC offense either outside of Escobar and Hosmer. That inexplicable walk to Butera was pretty brutal though. It is just rough to allow four runs to a team that had one extra base hit and just five hits total.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1TkZJDIuSUBZMrYHZUi8i7EFNTuEik7feRmGzrJl36u0/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Hector Santiago went toe-to-toe with Ventura, which was nice to see after his last few unimpressive outings. There’s at least that silver lining to this game.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1TkZJDIuSUBZMrYHZUi8i7EFNTuEik7feRmGzrJl36u0/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] If these two teams meet in the playoffs, at least we can take solace in the fact that the Halos apparently have Wade Davis’ number. Unfortunately, the Royals seem to have Huston Street’s number, too. Trevor Gott got got as his staggering inability to miss bats came back to bite him.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1TkZJDIuSUBZMrYHZUi8i7EFNTuEik7feRmGzrJl36u0/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] It was right there, man. The Angels were so close to taking this game and salvaging the series… so very close yet so very far.

Halo A-Hole

All you had to do was not walk Drew Butera. DREW BUTERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!