By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
After scoring two total runs over their last four games, the Kansas City Royals offense showed some life beating the Washington Nationals 3-0 at Nationals Park on Wednesday.
The Royals didn't score through the first two innings, but in his return from the injured list starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen was holding the Nationals off the board completely, giving up no hits while walking two and striking out one. Kansas City would give him some support in the third inning.
After Kyle Isbel walked to open the inning, Tommy Pham would single to move him into scoring position. Isbel would advance to third on a fly out from Bobby Witt Jr, before scoring on a single from Michael Massey. Pham would get to third base with a flyout from Salvador Perez, but the inning would end as Yuli Gurriel lined out to center.
It would be a no decision however for Lorenzen, after he struck out Jacob Young to open the bottom of the third, he would signal to trainers and soon walk off the field with head trainer Kyle Turner, bringing on Daniel Lynch in relief. The Royals later said Lorenzen was removed from the game with lower body fatigue as a precaution.
The Kansas City bullpen would continue shutting down Washington's hitters, Lynch giving up just two hits and striking out two through 2.2 innings before handing the ball to Angel Zerpa who would pitch a hitless inning in the sixth.
In the top half of the sixth inning was when the Royals added their final two runs. Perez singled to start the inning, and Gurriel followed that up with a double, before Robbie Grossman would single and drive both in, but after that the Royals would get three straight outs as the Nationals brought on Robert Garcia.
John Schreiber and Sam Long would combine for two scoreless, hitless innings, with two strikeouts and two walks coming from Schreiber, before Lucas Erceg came on to close the door, striking out one, and earning his 13th save.
With another win the Royals magic number to clinch a playoff spot is at three. A loss from the Twins would lower that to two games, with four games remaining in the season. Kansas City does remain tied with Detroit, and in the third AL Wildcard spot, after the Tigers beat Tampa Bay 7-1.
The Royals will have one more game against the Nationals before heading to Atlanta for the final series of the regular season. Michael Wacha will pitch the series finale against Washington lefty Patrick Corbin.
First pitch will be at 12:05 in Washington. KFEQ will join the game at first pitch.