Kansas City rookie Noah Cameron matched a career high with eight strikeouts while pitching into the seventh, but the Royals needed Nick Loftin’s walk-off RBI single in the ninth to win 3-2 over the visiting New York Mets on Sunday.
New York trailed 2-0 entering the ninth against All-Star Royals closer Carlos Estevez (4-2). Ronny Mauricio led off with a liner that left fielder Loftin misread and ended up as a double. Pinch-hitter Jeff McNeil followed with an RBI triple that nearly left the park and eventually scored on Jared Young’s sacrifice fly to tie the contest.
However, after rookie Tyler Tolbert singled for just his second career hit and stole second in the Royals’ ninth, Loftin atoned for his defensive gaffe. He sent a pitch from Sean Manaea (0-1) into left field to break the tie and salvage the finale after Kansas City dropped the first two of this set.
Cameron, meanwhile, continued the stellar start to his major-league career since debuting April 30. The left-hander recorded his seventh quality start while yielding seven hits and two walks over 6 2/3 innings to lower his ERA to 2.31 in 12 big-league starts.
New York’s Clay Holmes allowed only John Rave’s two-run double in the second and four other hits, plus a walk, over five innings.
Then Manaea came on in the sixth for his season debut after dealing with a lengthy oblique issue. Despite taking the loss, the left-hander was solid, allowing the one run and five hits while striking out seven without a walk over 3 1/3 innings and 65 pitches.
Kansas City put runners on second and third with one out in the second inning. After going 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position through the first two games of the set, Rave, who entered batting .167 with four RBIs in 34 career games, laced a double down the right-field line that scored the game’s first two runs.
The start to Sunday’s contest was delayed a little more than 40 minutes because of rain.
–Field Level Media
