Royals offense overpowered as bullpen blows lead in 2-1 loss to Tigers

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - APRIL 14: Jonathan India #6 of the Kansas City Royals throws the ball to first base as Kevin McGonigle #7 of the Detroit Tigers collides with him during the bottom of the first inning at Comerica Park on April 14, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. McGonigle was out at second base and Dillon Dingler #13 of the Detroit Tigers was thrown out at first base to complete the double play. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images) | Getty Images

In what is becoming a theme in this short season, the Kansas City offense no-showed and the bullpen again blew a slim lead as the Tigers beat the Royals 2-1 in Detroit.

Until the late innings, the first inning and half contained all the action, and it started very quickly. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Kevin McGonigle poked a fly ball to left field. As Isaac Collins tracked the ball, it drifted foul, into the seats just around a sneaky corner. Collins didn’t see the seats coming and went head over heels.

Collins did not come down with the ball, and to make batters worse he banged up his knee in the process. Tyler Tolbert came in to replace him, and Cole Ragans even walked McGonigle with the next pitch. It was not a good few minutes, but fortunately the Royals escaped without the Tigers doing any damage.

In the second inning, the Royals got some good fortune. Salvador Perez blooped a bouncing single through the right side of the infield, and Tigers starter Framber Valdez mishandled a Vinnie Pasquantino dribbler and barely got Salvy out at second base. Starling Marte singled on a grounder up the middle and Jonathan India walked to load the bases. Carter Jensen–or should I say Young Carter, Eric Hosmer’s nickname for him–made weak contact. But the weak contact prevented a double play and resulted in one (1) run.

Anytime I watch Valdez, I just wonder how anyone scores off him. For his career, Valdez has struck out batters at a healthy 23.4% clip, and when he does allow contact, he induces ground balls 60% of the time. It’s infuriating to watch; when he’s on, like he was tonight, he looks unstoppable. He threw strikes. He got an endless supply of ground balls. Kansas City’s offense was absolutely and completely overwhelmed, in other words.

Fortunately for the Royals, Cole Ragans was very good. Ragans wasn’t quite at his occasional “world-destroying monster” level, and he only had one strikeout against four walks (two leadoff). But Ragans had the Tigers constantly guessing, and Detroit only managed a single hit against the imposing lefty across six innings in part thanks to some solid defense, like this over-the-shoulder catch from Bobby Witt Jr.

Ragans left with a 1-0 lead. But with such a slim margin for error and Kansas City’s, shall we say, suspect bullpen, Royals fans could smell what was inevitable to happen next. It seemed like that would be immediate, as Matt Strahm stepped into the seventh inning and surrendered a leadoff single to Dillon Dingler and walked Spencer Torkelson a few batters later.

But while Strahm got out of it, that feared result happened in the eighth. Nick Mears also started off the eighth inning by surrendering a leadoff hit–but this one was of the extra base variety, a Zach McKinstry double. A Gleyber Torres groundout moved McKinstry to third base, and Mears uncorked a wild pitch to allow McKinstry to score. After a McGonigle walk, Dingler doubled to third base on a ball that Maikel Garcia probably should have gotten. It allowed McGonigle to score from first.

The Royals made it interesting in the ninth inning, with Lane Thomas singling off Kenley Jansen and stealing second base to put a runner in scoring position with no outs. But Jansen overpowered Salvy and Vinnie to get meek back-to-back ground outs, and Marte popped up to center field on what should have been a walk–but Marte didn’t challenge a clear miscall by the ump even though the Royals had both challenges and were about to lose the game.

Kansas City is now 7-10, and 17 games into the season you and I have combined for as many home runs as Witt, Pasquantino, and Caglianone have, so that’s fun. Should the Chicago White Sox win later tonight, the Royals will be back to their comfortable resting ground of last place (or tied for it, as it were).