Long ball blues: Home runs sink Muñoz's outing yet again

KANSAS CITY -- The flashes of dominance are there -- from taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning in New York to routinely hitting the upper-90s with his fastball.

But so are the frustrating hiccups -- from the inability to consistently locate pitches to being susceptible to the long ball.

As has been the case through Marlins right-hander Roddery Muñoz’s first seven big league starts, Monday night’s 4-1 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium was yet another lesson.

Muñoz allowed four runs, including three homers, over six innings. He struck out four and walked four in a 93-pitch outing. Muñoz has surrendered multiple home runs in all but two of his starts.

“I think the command just caught up with him,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He's got good swing-and-miss [stuff]. He's got really good stuff, and it shows what he has. He can out-stuff you at times. The problem is the command just catches up with him. I think that's probably 18 walks in 30-something innings, so that's going to catch up to him as you move forward.

“So putting himself in better situations, count-wise, is going to be the key to his development. But he's got great stuff. He's young, he's a young pitcher, and I think there's a lot of good about him. We've just got to figure out how to command and get him on the edges, especially when he's ahead in the count.”

The 24-year-old Muñoz’s 3.53 HR/9 IP rate (14 homers in 35 2/3 innings) is the highest among Major League pitchers (min. 30 frames) this season. The next closest is Padres righty Enyel De Los Santos (2.56). On a historical scale, that rate matches righty Zach Stewart from 2012 for second highest of all time with at least 35 innings pitched.

“I don't feel very comfortable seeing all these home runs like that, but this is the greatest level in baseball,” Muñoz said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “They're going to do that. So I’ve just got to work on getting better in that situation.”

It was clear from the beginning that Muñoz didn’t have his best command. He erased a walk in the first with an inning-ending double play, then struck out CJ Alexander to thwart a two-out rally in the second following consecutive walks.

Despite that, Muñoz held the Royals hitless through three frames thanks to Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s leaping catch into the center-field wall to rob Bobby Witt Jr. to close out a 1-2-3 third --- his only perfect frame.

But Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez went back to back on consecutive pitches to open the three-run fourth. Up until that point, Kansas City had seven hits and no runs in its past 25 innings.

“I was just trying to attack, be very aggressive, and they were competing, and they both won in that situation,” Muñoz said.

Hunter Renfroe also went deep in the sixth to extend the lead to 4-1.

The three homers each came on a different pitch: a cutter, a slider and a four-seamer. Muñoz said he had trouble locating his sinker, which was staying in the middle of the plate. As a result, he pivoted to using other offerings in his arsenal.

Still, there was a pair of silver linings.

All three homers were solo shots, a saving grace considering the traffic on the basepaths. It kept Miami in the game, but the lineup struck out 11 times against lefty Cole Ragans, and 15 times total.

With the rotation losing southpaws Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett over the weekend in a closely contested series win over the Mariners, the Marlins needed length out of their starter. The depth is being tested, with seven guys -- Luzardo, Garrett, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, Sixto Sánchez, Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez on the injured list.

“Our bullpen was light,” Schumaker said. “We had a few extra-inning games at home and some tough wins that we had to use a lot of our back-end bullpen guys to get through. Getting six innings, having [JT Chargois] pitch a great inning, [Kent] Emanuel had a great inning. But it's tough to win when we score one run, and [Cole] Ragans was the story tonight. Just a really good outing and just kept us off balance all night.”