30 August, 2017
With the major league record for the most consecutive scoreless innings well within reach, Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning of Tuesday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Given that they didn't score in the last seven innings of that game on Thursday, their scoreless streak now sits at 43 innings. The MLB record is 48 consecutive scoreless innings by the 1968 Chicago Cubs and 1906 Philadelphia Athletics. The last time that happened was the 1992 Chicago Cubs, and the last American League team to have not scored in four-straight games was the 1964 Washington Senators.
The home run gave the Royals a lead of 2-0 in the game and gave many the hope the team was poised to sweep the Rockies and win its fourth consecutive game that would give them momentum entering an important weekend series at Cleveland.
Montgomery (5-6) struck out four and walked none in his second start since he was inserted into the rotation after Jon Lester was placed on the 10-day disabled list.
Last Thursday, Brandon Moss hit a home run during the second inning for the Kansas City Royals against the Colorado Rockies.
During the four-game run of futility, the Royals have dropped far back from the Indians as they now trail Cleveland by 10 games and have just 32 left on the schedule.
In Washington, Max Scherzer overpowered Giancarlo Stanton, Howie Kendrick hit a three-run triple and the Nationals beat Miami.
Chris Davis doubled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning for the resurgent Orioles, who climbed over.500 (66-65) for the first time since June 11. Kennedy has now started 17 straight times at home without winning dating back to August of previous year while allowing 59 runs over 88 innings during those 17 starts. The Royals are third in the AL Central at 64-and-66, 10 games behind the first-place Indians and now three games out of the second AL wild card spot. He shared the mark of six with Cal Ripken Jr.
Kennedy was removed after Ramos' home run later that inning.
Cameron Rupp homered for the Phillies, who have connected in 10 straight games and totaled 21 homers over that stretch. He allowed 7 runs on 2 home runs and 4 doubles, 2 walks and a sacrifice fly. Scherzer (13-5) allowed one run and five hits, including Christian Yelich's home run, and had 10 strikeouts in his return from the 10-day disabled list.