Freddy to the rescue

Kris Bubic and Drew Waters star early, but Freddy Fermin saves the day for the Royals.

Every once in a while, you watch a baseball game that is an outright assault on everything that is good. Tuesday’s Royals game against the Colorado Rockies was such a contest, especially once the game rolled into the ninth inning. It wasn’t exactly unexpected as both teams feature offenses that can only be described as anemic. I generally enjoy pitchers’ duels and starter Kris Bubic was sharp, the inability of the Royals to mount any kind of attack remains a source of frustration.

The situation was generally fine. The game was cruising along, with the Royals ahead 2-0 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth.

Who the hell thought extra innings would be enjoyable?

Well, Freddy Fermin certainly had a good time. Fermin entered the game in the ninth inning as a pinch runner after Salvador Perez singled to lead off the frame. He eventually came around to score the tying run that forced the game into extra innings.

In the 10th, the Rockies advanced their Manfred Man to third via a sac bunt. Fermin, now catching, picked him off, cool as you like.

What an absolute catch and release from Fermin. Credit also goes to Maikel Garcia, who was able to apply the tag while tumbling into foul territory. And what awareness from Fermin to rifle that throw down the line and around the runner. Just a perfectly boneheaded play from the runner to wander far enough off the bag. A perfectly executed back pick. That was a huge out.

With neither team able to cash in their Manfred Man in the tenth (naturally), the game pushed on into the 11th. After the Royals and Daniel Lynch IV set the Rockies down in order, Colorado intentionally walked Bobby Witt Jr. to open the bottom half. Both Mark Canha (the Manfred Man) and Witt immediately moved up on a wild pitch, so Colorado then put Vinnie Pasquantino on intentionally, loading the bases for that man, Fermin.

Four pitches and a hanging slider later, the Royals walked it off, 4-3 victors.

I don’t know whether it was an exciting ballgame or one that was incredibly maddening. I was entertained, yet at the same time, I was also disgusted. It was like watching that woman break dance at the Olympics last summer. Nothing made sense, yet I could not stop watching.

What I do know is that if the Royals had somehow handed this game to the Rockies, it would’ve gone down as one of the worst defeats in recent memory. There was no way this game should’ve gone to extra innings. The Royals were on the precipice of blowing a precious win. They survived. The tally in the “W” column is all that matters.

Both teams tried to give it away. Neither was ready to accept. Finally, the Royals grabbed it. It was kind of theirs to take anyway, thank you very much.

Before this game went off the rails, the stars of the game for the Royals were Kris Bubic on the mound and Drew Waters at the plate.

Bubic was nails again. The four-seamer was excellent, averaging 92.5 mph. Bubic wasn’t elevating the pitch, rather, he was working the outer edge against right-handed batters. That rise of the fastball sneaks up on hitters.

The confrontation with Jacob Stallings that ended up in the strikeout above was an excellent example of how Bubic attacked hitters all night. This was the sequence.

Bubic opened with a sweeper down and in, well out of the zone. From there, he was in attack mode and forced Stallings into swing mode. Bubic keeps his changeups down more than his slider, which is a flatter pitch than his sweeper. I think the slider reads like the four-seamer coming out of Bubic’s hand (especially the location) and Stallings was out in front of the pitch. It’s a balance-shifter, which is why Bubic can locate it there.

The changeups were meant to ring up Stallings. He spoiled both. Then the fastball doesn’t come with a lot of vertical drop, which gives it that illusion that it rises (I prefer “explodes”) as it hits the zone.

Bubic got seven swings and misses on his four-seamer to go along with three each for his sweeper and slider. He got Rockies hitters to fish at 50 percent of his sweepers that were out of the zone. It’s not an overpowering array; rather, it’s sneaky good, with every offering a strong one that is generally well-located. The Rockies, as you would expect, did not have an answer. Bubic finished seven innings, allowing four hits and no walks. He struck out six. His ERA on the season is now down to 1.45. That’ll play.

If Bubic was going to turn in another masterful performance, he would need help from someone in the lineup—anyone!—to get him and his team the victory. That man would be Drew Waters.

I know. I’m surprised, too.

Waters singled in the third. That was just a warm-up act.

Leading off the sixth, he launched a home run to put the Royals on top. Hell, yeah, that gets a GIF.

That was a changeup down and in. To a lefty batter? That’s the happy zone right there. You can see from the GIF that Waters was quick to the ball, but it was a controlled swing. He didn’t get too far out in front and dropped the barrel enough to get it elevated on contact. Nothing is more aesthetically pleasing than a left-handed batter going down to launch one.

Waters wasn’t done, though! In the eighth, he laced a drive down the right field line and motored around to third with a triple. The Cycle Watch was officially on! (Yes, the Cycle Watch goes into effect no matter the inning.) He then scored the Royals second run of the night on a Kyle Isbel bunt single that was basically a safety squeeze.

Had the game ended after the top of the ninth (wishful thinking, right?), Waters would’ve had three of the Royals six hits and scored both their runs.

If only the game had ended after the top of the ninth…

Hours later, I’m trying to wrap my head around what we saw in that ninth inning. Carlos Estévez, in to protect a two-run lead, recorded the first two outs in rapid succession. Do I need to remind you that this Colorado Rockies team is just as inept at the plate as the Royals? Someone should’ve told Estévez, because he immediately lost the strike zone.

He walked Ryan McMahon. The same Ryan McMahon who struck out three times in three at bats, all three times looking.

He walked Hunter Goodman. Pitch seven was fouled off.

He was not even close on four pitches to Michael Toglia.

At this point, I have to remind you…These are the Colorado Rockies. They are atrocious at baseball. On the road this year, as a team, they are hitting .188/.240/.286. Yes! That is a small sample. But it’s a damn terrible small sample. Dreadful. And Estévez could not leverage that ineptitude by throwing a strike.

That’s three consecutive walks with two outs to load the bases. You know what happens next:

That’s a 1-2 hanging slider to Jacob Stallings. Middle on middle on the middle. Put it on a tee. An absolute pipe shot.

The result was a bases-clearing double. In an instant, the Royals 2-0 lead turned into a 3-2 deficit.

With wins difficult to come by and an epic ninth inning collapse from their closer, the Royals somehow pulled themselves up off the mat and threw another punch. Salvador Perez led off the ninth with a single. That was followed by a double from Maikel Garcia to put runners on second and third with nobody out. After Michael Massey tied the game with a sacrifice fly, Garcia experienced a temporary moment of baseball insanity.

He broke early for third, but Rockies pitcher Seth Halvorsen spun and fired to second, effectively getting Garcia in a rundown and effectively torpedoing any chance the Royals had at ending this in regulation.

What was Garcia thinking? Great question. Maybe playing the Rockies kills brain cells.

Yet for all the madness, there was Fermin, saving the win and maybe even the season.

This picture says everything:

A loss, given they were literally one out away from securing a victory, would’ve been devastating given the circumstances. Instead, the music was thumping in the clubhouse. Heroes show up when you least expect them.

What a maddening game.

What a great game.

Central Issues

White Sox 2, Twins 4

Much like the Royals and the Rockies, someone had to win this game. Turns out it was the Twins, thanks to the largess of the Sox, who gifted the first two runs to their opponents thanks to fielding miscues. Trevor Larnach hit a two-run home run in the eighth to pad the lead and Johan Duran was wobbly in the ninth, allowing a run on two walks and a single, but survived to pick up his second save of the year.

Yankees 2, Guardians 3

Ben Rice smacked the first pitch of the game over the fence in left-center, but Tanner Bibee was able to settle down and grind out six innings only surrendering an additional run. The Guardians rallied in their half of the sixth with a handful of singles, a double steal and a wild pitch. By the time the dust settled, they had their 3-2 lead. Cade Smith picked up the save, pitching a clean ninth inning.

Yes, that’s five in a row for the Guardians, who now hold first place in the Central despite having a run differential of -1. This division is weird.