Silly sixth inning leads to another Royals victory over Guardians

Daniel Lynch IV got the start for the Royals. This is a decision the Royals have made out of desperation, but it has yet to bite them on the butt. Today had all the markings of a game where it would happen. He had a quick first inning despite Isaac Collins misplaying a routine groundout. The Royals stranded Salvador Perez after a leadoff double in the second, and things started to get very, very bad.

Lynch walked Jo Adell to lead off the bottom half of the inning. Jo Adell walks less than 5% of the time. Angel Martinez followed with a home run to left field, and the Royals were down for the first time in this series. But then Lynch walked David Fry, and Bobby Witt Jr. got a throwing error on a potential double-play ball that probably still should have been caught by Isaac Collins at second. Fortunately, the Royals got the double play right on the next play, and the damage was limited. But would they score any runs? And would Lynch prevent any more scoring?

Lynch worked around a leadoff bunt single in the third but gave up a one-out double in the fourth, and that was it for him. That left his line at 3.1 innings with 3 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. That simply isn't good enough. It's remarkable he didn't give up even more runs. That's thanks to the Royals' beleaguered bullpen that simply didn't allow another baserunner until the ninth. But that wouldn't have mattered if the offense hadn't figured some things out.