Singer's struggles continue worrisome trend for KC starters

KANSAS CITY -- The Yankees flexed their power Tuesday night, but not from the hitters you’d expect -- well, not at first.

Catcher Austin Wells hit the first homer of this series, a three-run blast as part of a four-run fourth inning against starter Brady Singer in the Royals’ 10-1 loss at Kauffman Stadium. But the sluggers showed up later, with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton homering in the seventh inning off Nick Anderson to put even a magical Kansas City comeback out of reach.

Singer allowed seven runs (six earned) in 5 2/3 innings as the Royals dropped their third straight. Tuesday’s loss was their largest margin of defeat since a 15-4 loss against the Rangers on May 4, snapping a 33-game stretch in which they outscored opponents 172-143 (+29). And Kansas City has been held to two runs or fewer in back-to-back games, ending a stretch of 10 games with at least three (5.9 runs per game).

“You learn from tonight,” said Bobby Witt Jr., who had two of the four hits the Royals recorded off Yankees starter Marcus Stroman on Tuesday. “And you lean on the process. We can’t try to do more. I think at times, you try to do more than you need to, whether it’s pitching or hitting. We’ve got to go out there and play our game. If we play our game, we’re going to be one of the best teams out there.”

Singer struck out Wells looking at a 93 mph sinker on the inside part of the plate in the second inning, and in an 0-2 count in the fourth, Singer tried to go there again. After struggling to pitch inside to lefties in his last start against the Guardians, Singer had better success there Tuesday, saying it might have “been the best it’s been all year, being able to get it in there.”

But Singer missed his spot this time, throwing it in the middle of the plate. Wells did not miss, sending it a Statcast-projected 417 feet to center field.

“I was comfortable with that pitch to lefties,” Singer said. “Maybe he was looking for it, but I just got to execute better. If I execute that pitch, the outcome’s pretty good.”

Singer walked only one batter and struck out six, but the Yankees knocked seven hits against him. Some, especially in the first inning, were grounders Singer wanted, only to see them find holes in the field. Some, like in the fourth, Singer would like back.

“I’m trying to keep the ball on the ground there, and that’s what I did,” Singer said of his two-run first inning. “Try to limit as much damage. … But I need to keep the score at two or three there. We have a bigger inning with that one swing of the bat. It changes everything.”

Singer threw four four-seamers, relying heavily on his sinker-slider combination like he typically does, as well as some sweepers that registered as his traditional slider.

“Mixed in a couple of four-seams and a couple of changeups there, so definitely have to mix it and mix more and move it around the zone,” Singer said.

Up until this month, the Kansas City rotation had been a strength for this team, the reason it has gotten out to as good of a start as it did. Through the first two months of the season (59 games), Royals starters posted a 3.04 ERA, fourth best in baseball.

In June -- only nine games so far -- that ERA is 5.33, fifth worst in baseball. Cole Ragans has thrown the only two quality starts. The Royals have allowed first-inning runs in their past six games, dating back to Thursday in Cleveland. The offense has come back to win three of those, and it nearly won a fourth on Sunday. But the Yankees the past two days have kept building their lead. The Royals left 10 on base Tuesday.

“We’ve done that before, but that’s really -- you’re not going to do that on a consistent basis, come back from being down six, seven runs,” manager Matt Quatraro said.

The Royals’ depth has been tested since Michael Wacha (left foot fracture) went on the 15-day injured list on June 1. Daniel Lynch IV has pitched in his place and will take the ball after opener Dan Altavilla for bulk innings Wednesday night.

“We’ve got to get back to trusting our stuff in the zone and get back attacking hitters,” Singer said. “We’ve had a really good run. We’ve just got to get back to using our best stuff in the zone.”