Singer unable to give Royals much-needed length

KANSAS CITY -- Less than 24 hours after the sixth inning imploded on the Royals in Friday’s wild loss to the Nationals, it happened again in eerily similar fashion.

Saturday afternoon’s 4-2 loss was closer and considerably less wacky than Friday’s 12-10 slugfest. The result, though, was the same.

Royals starter Brady Singer cruised through five scoreless innings, working around trouble and walks, and was sent out for the sixth at 86 pitches with Kansas City leading 2-0. A leadoff single and a double cut that lead in half, and manager Matt Quatraro turned to lefty Josh Taylor for the bottom part of Washington’s order.

Taylor faced four batters and did not record an out. The Nationals rallied for three more runs and were looking for more, but Carlos Hernández came in to face the top of the lineup and recorded three quick outs.

“Fortunately, we kept it close in that inning, but it got away from us quickly,” Quatraro said. “We were ready. I thought we had a good matchup there in the bottom part of the order with the switch hitter and the two lefties for Josh, but he just wasn’t able to put them away. They put some good swings on him -- [CJ] Abrams with the big hit.”

The Nationals’ rally wiped out a run the Royals manufactured in the first and Salvador Perez’s 12th homer of the season -- and ninth in May -- in the third. Kansas City left nine on base Saturday and wasn't able to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the fourth or seventh.

The Royals have held a lead in 18 of 24 games this month, but they are just 8-16 in May. Their 18 blown leads this season are second-worst in baseball behind the A's (19).

In the past 12 games, a Kansas City starter has recorded an out in the sixth inning just twice: Zack Greinke in Chicago on May 19, when he threw 5 2/3 innings, and Singer in San Diego on May 16, when he went six strong frames.

Quatraro said he “felt good” about Singer going out for the sixth. Really, the Royals needed Singer to go out for the sixth inning to try to avoid forcing the bullpen to cover four or five frames yet again.

“Especially when you’re playing at home and you’re covering nine [innings], you have to [have the starter] cover four innings, which isn’t ideal on any team,” Quatraro said. “Fortunately, the guys are durable. We do feel good about the matchups we are getting -- it’s just about executing. And when you don’t, it looks bad.”

On Friday, Jordan Lyles, who was signed precisely to give the Royals innings, had thrown 76 pitches through five. He went out for the sixth and gave up four runs in an inning where the Nationals ultimately scored eight. On a different day, perhaps, Quatraro pulls Lyles after five, but the skipper is also managing for the games ahead.

The fewer innings the starters cover, the more the bullpen has to clean up the leftovers. And when a five-plus-inning start is preceded by starts of five innings, 4 2/3 innings, 3 2/3 innings and so on, the uncovered frames start to accumulate.

“We’ve just got to attack hitters as best we can,” Singer said. “Walks didn’t help me today, so try to eliminate those. Get back to the strike zone. And obviously, trust your stuff. We’re here for a reason. Believe in yourself and trust your stuff and understand it’s going to work in the strike zone. That’s going to help us.”

Despite the pivotal sixth inning, Singer allowed just two runs over his five-plus frames, which is a line he’ll take given the struggles he’s faced to start the season. On Saturday, he walked three of the first six batters, but he stranded all of them and didn’t allow a hit until the fourth.

As Singer slowly found command of his sinker Saturday, he relied on his slider, which featured the normal bite he’s used to rather than the inconsistency he’d encountered lately. The Nationals whiffed on the pitch eight times in 25 swings (32%), and five of Singer’s six strikeouts came on the breaking ball.

“It’s been hit-and-miss lately with the slider,” Singer said. “To have that good bite and [be] able to command it ultimately helped the most. I think [I was] just trying to throw it in the zone more. I’ve been shying away from contact with it. Today, I was trying to attack the strike zone as much as I could with it. Obviously, I don’t like the walks there. But I was able to work around it."