KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cole Ragans pitched out of hassle for six spotless innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets 4-0 on Wednesday evening for his or her fifth consecutive victory, extending their longest profitable streak in additional than two years.
Michael Massey hit a two-run double off rookie Kodai Senga within the first. Drew Waters homered late and threw out a runner on the plate from proper discipline.
Called up from the minors earlier within the day, Ragans (3-3) struck out a career-best eight in his first win with the Royals.
“I felt like I kept them off balance a little bit,” Ragans stated. “I was throwing the changeup and the slider for strikes, so it helped me out when I did miss with the fastball. I felt like they had to honor everything else, so they couldn’t just sit on a fastball over the plate.”
The left-hander allowed seven hits and walked one in his second begin for Kansas City since being acquired June 30 from Texas.
“He’s got good stuff,” Royals supervisor Matt Quatraro stated. “It’s a very smooth delivery. It’s just easy velocity. The slider looks like it’s sharper than it was his first start.”
Maikel Garcia had three singles as Kansas City prolonged its finest profitable streak since taking six straight video games in July 2021.
“Part of this whole process is learning how to win,” Massey stated. “Individual development of trying to figure the league out, and then as a team learning how to go out there and win.”
The Royals ripped Senga for six hits over the primary two innings, constructing a 3-0 lead, as a lightweight rain fell early within the sport. Senga (7-6) labored 5 2/3 innings, permitting three runs on a career-high 11 hits and two walks. He struck out six.
“I think some of his velocity was down,” Mets supervisor Buck Showalter stated. “It was really sticky. When it started raining, everything was sticking to his spikes. He couldn’t get his spikes in the ground. It was really remarkable that he was able to survive there. A real tribute, a testament to his ability to keep competing.”
Massey’s two-out, two-run double off the right-field wall opened the scoring. Kansas City added one other run within the second on three consecutive singles, capped by Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI single off Senga.
“I feel like we jumped on him a lot,” Massey stated. “Maikel set the tone and Bobby (had) two hard-hit balls right away. Just a really good plan from coaches, and (we) picked up some stuff from video that we were watching all day, and put some good swings on him.”
Waters threw out Mark Vientos on the plate within the sixth to protect the shutout, then added a solo homer within the eighth.
“I didn’t have much of a grip,” Waters stated. “At first I thought I was going to throw it in the stands, and it cut about 10 feet, right back to (catcher) Salvy (Perez).”
“The throw from Waters saved me big-time,” Ragans stated. “The pitch count started getting up there and he threw it right on the money and hosed the guy. It was huge.”
Angel Zerpa and Taylor Clarke allowed two hits over the ultimate three innings, finishing the Royals’ fifth shutout and first since June 20.
“We just didn’t score any runs,” Showalter stated. “The whole outing would have looked different if we could have done some things. We had some opportunities, didn’t do much with them.”
Jeff McNeil, who had three hits, grounded out with the bases loaded to finish it.
New York went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring place and stranded 10 general whereas getting blanked for the tenth time this season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: CF Brandon Nimmo sat out his second consecutive sport with tightness in his left quadriceps. … RF Starling Marte (migraines) is prone to be reinstated from the injured record earlier than the membership performs in Baltimore this weekend. “We could have activated him today and probably not started him,” Showalter stated. “We need players who are able to play. He’s almost there. We feel like he’s going to be a player in Baltimore.”
TRANSACTIONS
Mets: Activated RHP Phil Bickford and chosen the contract of SS Jonathan Araúz from Triple-A Syracuse. C Michael Pérez was optioned to Syracuse.
Royals: Activated LHP Tucker Davidson and recalled Ragans from Triple-A Omaha. RHPs Jackson Kowar and James McArthur have been optioned to Omaha.
UP NEXT
Mets RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-5, 6.40 ERA) faces RHP Brady Singer (6-8, 5.46) within the collection finale Thursday.
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