Three Homers Make A Royal Sweep

The Houston Astros leave Kansas City with a 6-4 record on their recent road trip. Another win is added thanks in part to a power surge that included three homers by Astros players.

In a series that had already seen the Astros win by final scores of 9-2 and 3-0, the offense wanted to show that they have not finished. By George, I am just fine with that.

Danny Duffy started the game for the Royals. An early error by Eric Hosmer has the MLB-hits leader on base. Then the rookie sensation named George Springer came to the plate. Duffy’s 1-1 offering was skied over the wall in left-center field for a 2-run homer, Springer’s 9th of the season, and the Astros quickly had a 2-run lead. The scoring had not concluded by any means.

The top of the second inning saw Carlos Corporan record a single, preceding a pair of walks to Jonathan Villar and Springer. With two outs and the bases loaded, Dexter Fowler was able to deliver with a 2-run single. Does it sound like a broken record? It seems like nearly every RBI hit lately is for two runs. Keep ’em coming, Stros, keep ’em coming.

While the Astros had staked an early 4-0 lead, Jarred Cosart responded by limiting the Royals to a couple of hits and issuing a couple of walks. Honestly nothing too concerning.

A two-out walk to Robbie Grossman in the third inning led to the Astros 5th run of the game. Carlos Corporan seemed to like starting today. A single in the first at-bat then a double in his second at-bat scored Grossman.

Cosart sailed through the first three innings. A couple of hits and a couple of walks were issued but nothing too threatening. In fact, only 2 of Cosart’s 9 outs were hit in the air. Six others were grounders while he did record his lone strike out of the game by getting Pedro Ciriaco on a foul tip. In the 4th inning Cosart left a couple pitches where they could be hit. Back-t0-back doubles by Hosmer and Alcides Escobar gave the Royals their first tally of the game.

Chris Carter, who had been on the bench for three games, started the fifth inning with a mammoth home run to left field. The home run was his 7th of the season and gave the Astros a 6-1 lead. A single by Jesus Guzman prompted the Royals to take Duffy out of the game. The Astros ended up leaving two men on base in the inning.

The bottom of the fifth inning had the Royals score another run. This time Jonathan Villar had a throwing error on the back end of a potential double play. Astros broadcasters agreed that Villar should have just kept the ball as Jarrod Dyson would have beat the throw regardless. Dyson eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Omar Infante.

Royals pitcher Louis Coleman was called upon for the top of the sixth inning. Chris Carter hit a 3-run homer, his second of the game and number eight on the season, after seeing Springer get hit by a pitch and Matt Dominguez record a single. That pretty much solidified the Astros series sweep in Kansas City. Royals catcher Brett Hayes hit a solo shot off of Jerome William in the bottom of the 7th for their third run of the day. Aside from that, the Astros bullpen was pretty solid in securing Cosart’s fourth win of 2014.