​The Royals dropped a 5-3 decision after another taxing start from Luinder Avila and just a touch too much bullpen usage. The final tally came when Matt Strahm surrendered the decisive blow, a two-run homer by Samuel Basallo. Up to that point, it was a tightly contested ballgame.
Luinder Avila got the start for Kansas City and worked five innings, allowing three runs while striking out three and walking three. It was a grind for Avila, who seemed to be working in constant peril, often facing full counts despite only three free passes. He needed 96 pitches to complete five innings. Avila surrendered two runs with two outs in the second inning, but the Royals answered in the fourth. A Michael Massey walk—he’s been aboard frequently of late—set the table, and Josh Rojas followed with a double to pull the Royals even. Before that sequence, Jac Caglianone ripped his first homer since that two-homer performance in Tampa Bay nearly two weeks earlier.
In the bottom of the inning, Avila seemed to have Blaze Alexander down 0-2 with one out, and the broadcast praised him for effectively stifling the offense as the game was tied. But Avila left a slider up that Alexander deposited for a long ball, and the score remained 3-2 in favor of Kansas City through the seventh inning. Steven Cruz spun a clean sixth with a strikeout, and Daniel Lynch IV matched that efficiency in the seventh.
The tide began to turn in the eighth. Isaac Collins led off the frame with a home run to dead center, a disconnected moment that added a new dimension to the late-innings drama—though it wasn’t enough to shift the ultimate outcome. With Lynch having already pitched, Royals manager Matt Quatraro turned to Matt Strahm for the eighth. The moment was notable on the broadcast as Strahm celebrated his milestone: his first big-league strikeout had long been a touchstone in his career, and reaching ten years of MLB service time is a meaningful benchmark that often signals full pension vesting and a crowning chapter in a player’s long career. That celebratory frame, however, proved costly for the Royals.
Strahm allowed a single to Pete Alonso and then a line-drive homer to Samuel Basallo, delivering the lead and the loss for Kansas City. The Royals mounted a late push in the ninth, with Michael Massey ripping a double off the wall, but he was the lone spark in that final inning, as no other Royal could cross the plate.
The loss extends Kansas City’s skid to three straight as they head into the All-Star break with a handful of crisp, late-inning moments tainted by a handful of misplays and a key bullpen miscue. One baserunning blunder proved costly earlier in the fifth when Isaac Collins overslid second after delivering a ball to the right-field wall, allowing Gunnar Henderson to tag him out. Those small mistakes—combined with the late-inning breakdown—have compounded the Royals’ recent disappointments.
As the All-Star break looms, the Royals still have two more games on the schedule before the break, offering a final chance to regroup. For those who prefer to shift focus toward the draft, Futures Game action, and related events, there’s plenty to follow over the coming days. If you’re still watching, tomorrow’s tilt is set for 6:00 PM Central, with Noah Cameron taking the ball against Kyle Bradish.
In sum, the Royals found themselves in a close game for most of the night, but a late eighth-inning surge from the Orioles—paired with a Strahm miscue in relief—sealed a 5-3 win for the home team. The sequence illustrated how small margins matter in a tight night game, and with two more contests before the break, Kansas City will look to clean up the details and snap their skid before the midseason pause.