Royals 3, Palms 2

 For the second straight night, the Miami Palms found themselves staring at the margins — and coming up just short.

A crisp start from Erick Fedde and a pair of early runs looked like it might be enough on a humid Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Palms Park, but Kansas City chipped away late and escaped with a 3–2 win, handing Miami its second one-run loss of the series.

The Palms struck first in the third inning. Greg Garcia and Emilio Miranda singled into right-field corner and Garcia came home on Frank Sohn’s sharp double, igniting the crowd. Two batters later, Pat Grant punched a single through the left side to move Sohn over, and Chris Korb brought him in with a productive out, giving Miami a 2–0 lead and momentum that felt, briefly, secure.

Fedde did his part. The right-hander scattered two hits over five scoreless innings, walking four but bending without breaking. He stranded runners in both the fourth and fifth innings, relying on weak contact and a steady infield behind him.

“I felt in control even when I didn’t have my best stuff,” Fedde said. “We were exactly where we wanted to be.”

But the game turned once the bullpen door opened.

Kansas City scratched across a run in the sixth, then tied it in the seventh when Whit Merrifield lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Alex Gordon, and marked Allen’s second blown save of the season.

The decisive blow came an inning later, on Ryan O’Hearn’s solo homer off Jeremy Jeffroes — a no-doubt shot that quieted the park and proved to be the winning run. The Palms would get one last look in the ninth, putting the tying run aboard, but Royals closer Scott Barlow induced a routine grounder to end it.

Miami finished with nine hits but went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, a familiar frustration in a game decided by inches rather than innings.

“You don’t want to waste starts like that,” manager Scott Hatteberg said. “Fedde gave us exactly what we needed. We’ve got to find a way to push across one more run.”

The loss drops the Palms to 34–30, a reminder that even during a strong stretch of baseball, the line between winning and losing can be as thin as a fly ball caught at the warning track.

And on this night, it tilted Kansas City’s way.

 Kansas City Royals 3, Miami Palms 2

 Wednesday, June 3, 2020

 

 

 Kansas City Royals (2-1)                                 Miami Palms (34-30)                                     

 Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB   Ave      Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB   Ave      

 ------          -- -  - -- -- --  -  -  - ---   ---      ------          -- -  - -- -- --  -  -  - ---   ---      

 Merrifield rf   3  0  0  1  1  0  1  0  0  0   .167      Sohn cf         4  0  2  1  0  1  3  0  0  1   .275

 Mondesi ss      4  0  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  0   .167      Koch ss         4  0  0  0  0  0  4  4  0  0   .281

 Soler dh        4  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  2   .200      Grant lf        4  0  1  1  0  1  1  0  0  1   .293

 Dozier 3b       2  1  0  0  2  0  1  1  0  0   .100      Korb 3b         4  0  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  2   .263

 O'Hearn 1b      4  1  3  1  0  1  10 0  0  0   .625      Wieters c       4  0  0  0  0  0  4  0  0  0   .256

 Lopez 2b        3  0  1  1  1  0  0  4  0  0   .300      Pfaff 1b        4  0  1  0  0  0  10 0  0  0   .333

 Phillips cf     4  0  0  0  0  0  6  0  0  1   .000      Holt rf         4  0  1  0  0  0  3  0  0  0   .255

 Perez c         4  0  1  0  0  0  2  1  0  4   .250      Garcia 2b       4  1  1  0  0  0  1  4  0  2   .275

 Gordon lf       3  1  2  0  1  1  5  0  0  0   .273      Miranda dh      3  1  3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   .571

 

                 -- -  - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---                            -- -  - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---            

 Totals          31 3  7  3  5  3  27 9  0  7             Totals          35 2  9  2  0  2  27 11 0  6  

 

 

                            1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10     R  H  E

                            -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -      -  -  -

 Kansas City Royals         0  0  0  0  0  1  1  1  0         3  7  0  

 Miami Palms                0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0  0         2  9  0  

 

 

 

 LOB- Kansas City Royals 7, Miami Palms 6; 2B- Perez(1), Sohn(19), Pfaff(3); 3B- Gordon(1),

 Miranda(1); HR- O'Hearn(2); RBI- Merrifield(2), O'Hearn(2), Lopez(2), Sohn(16),

 Grant(31); SF- Merrifield(1); GIDP- Merrifield(1), Soler(1), Korb(4); RLSP- Soler,

 Phillips, Perez 2, Garcia, Sohn, Korb 2, Grant;  

 

 DP- Kansas City Royals 1, Miami Palms 2; 

  

 

 

 Kansas City Royals            IP   H  R  ER BB SO    ERA

 Zuber(W 1-0)                  8.0  8  2  2  0  2    2.25  

 Barlow(S, 2)                  1.0  1  0  0  0  0    0.00  

 

 Miami Palms                   IP   H  R  ER BB SO    ERA

 Fedde                         5.0  2  0  0  4  2    8.42  

 Morin(H, 1)                   1.0  2  1  1  1  0    3.86  

 Allen(BS,2)                   1.0  1  1  1  0  1    4.46  

 Jeffress(L 2-2)               1.0  1  1  1  0  0    3.71  

 Matusz                        1.0  1  0  0  0  0    4.32  

 

 Pitches-strikes- Zuber 73-54, Barlow 7-5, Fedde 80-44, Morin 18-8, Allen 12-9,

 Jeffress 11-8, Matusz 4-3; Batters faced- Zuber 31, Barlow 4, Fedde 20, Morin 6,

 Allen 4, Jeffress 4, Matusz 3; 


 Temp - 79, Sky - Mostly Cloudy, Wind - E 6MPH 

 

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