Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
On Tuesday night, the Kansas City Royals fell to the Miami Marlins in a tough 1-0 loss in extra innings. Kansas City wasted an impressive outing from reliever-turned-starter Bruce Chen.
Since making the move from the bullpen, Chen has been outstanding with six quality starts in six tries, yielding a 0.94 ERA with a 0.68 WHIP. On Tuesday night, He threw seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out six. Unfortunately, it was for naught as NL Rookie of the Year candidate Jose Fernandez was equally as impressive.
The 21-year old continued his remarkable rookie campaign, throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and walking one. Fernandez has been one of the few bright spots in a season to forget for the Marlins, leading the team in virtually every pitching category.
With no run support, both pitchers got no-decisions, but the effort from Fernandez wasn’t in vain as the Marlins’ bullpen held up to earn Miami the win. With the game tied at zero, the Marlins got the go-ahead run on an RBI single from Christian Yelich in the 10th. Steve Cishek closed it out in the bottom of the inning, earning his 25th save.
The loss was crushing for Kansas City, who blew the opportunity to gain ground on the slumping Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have lost four of their last five contests, and a win could have brought the Royals to within 5.5 games of first place in the AL Central. Detroit and Kansas City start a crucial five-game series on Thursday that will be a big factor in deciding the division.
Aaron Charles is a Kansas City Chiefs writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on twitter @aaroncharleskc or add him to your network on Google
