By JACK THOMPSON
Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — Scott Barlow got Christian Walker to hit a game-ending groundout with runners on second and third, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 Tuesday for just their second win in 11 games.
Brady Singer (2-2) rebounded from three poor starts and the Royals tied his season high with 14 hits. Every starter except Franmil Reyes had at least one hit for the Royals. Kansas City is 6-18, including 5-6 on the road, but just 1-12 at Kauffman Stadium.
Corbin Carroll came within a home run of the cycle for Arizona and stole two bases.
After allowing 18 runs in 16 innings in his previous three outings, Singer allowed one run and five hits in six innings and lowered his ERA from 8.14 to 6.67.
“I don’t know if I’ve cleanly gotten past a first inning this year,” Singer said. “I wanted to set the tone early.
“The slider was the difference. (There was) a much better late break for that pitch. The change was also very productive.”
“Really encouraging, obviously a good start for him but also for the team,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Singer. “Those guys present a lot of challenges with his lineup, so I was really happy for him.”
Kansas City opened up a 5-2 lead on a run-scoring wild pitch by Anthony Misiewicz in the eighth, but Arizona closed out the bottom half on Emmanuel Rivera’s two-run single off Aroldis Chapman. Rivera moved to second on Bobby Witt Jr.’s throwing error, but Barlow relieved and struck out Gabriel Moreno and Alek Thomas.
“He went in there in a great spot and got those two strikeouts,” Matt Quatraro said.
Geraldo Perdomo doubled leading off the ninth and took third on a groundout. Carroll walked with two out and stole his second, and Barlow retired Walker for his third save.
Ryne Nelson (1-1) allowed four runs and 11 hits in five innings.
“He was a little bit of a fistfight all day,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He was struggling with mastery of his (off-speed pitches); I thought he had a good rhythm with his fastball.
“We had some chances and we hit some balls hard, we just had nothing to show for it.”
Edward Olivares hit an RBI single in the first and Nicky Lopez doubled the lead with a run-scoring single in the fourth. Walker hit an RBI groundout in the bottom half, but Kansas City opened up a 4-1 lead in the fifth when Michael Massey hit a run-scoring single and Reyes followed with a sacrifice fly.
Josh Rojas’ sacrifice fly cut Arizona’s deficit to 4-2 in the seventh.
DOES IT MOVE
Rivera was called up because OF Jake McCarthy was optioned to Triple-A Reno by Arizona after Monday’s game. McCarthy was hitting .143 in 22 games after hitting .283 with 23 stolen bases as a rookie last year. “Things just weren’t going in a positive direction,” Lovullo said.
COACHES ROOM
Royals: C MJ Melendez (stiff lower back) “feels better,” according to manager Matt Quatraro. Melendez left Sunday’s game against Toronto and did not play Monday. … Quatraro assistant LHP Daniel Lynch (rotator cuff strain) had a good bullpen session in nearby Surprise and could start his rehab in a week.
Diamondbacks: Walker (forearm) returned to the starting lineup after making a pinch-hitting appearance Monday.
NEXT
Kansas City LHP Ryan Yarbrough (0-2, 7.62) makes his first start of the season against Arizona ace Zac Gallen (3-1, 2.59) in Wednesday’s series finale. ___
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