Royals give Trevor Williams trouble, overcome Pirates' early homers for 5th straight win - TribLIVE

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Despite missing batting practice after a delayed arrival to Kauffman Stadium, the Pittsburgh Pirates came out swinging and hit three solo home runs in the first three innings.

When the Kansas City Royals punched back, Pirates starter Trevor Williams got knocked out. The right-hander couldn’t protect a two-run lead and a made a critical error at the plate as the Royals ran away with a 7-4 victory Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes after a standoff with an armed man and Kansas City police outside Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The two stadiums are both located at Truman Sports Complex and sharing parking lots. After waiting four hours at their hotel for clearance, the Pirates missed batting practice and had to do a quick warm up in the cages.

“It was a crazy day, for sure,” Pirates first baseman Josh Bell said. “I don’t think you can point a finger and say, ‘Oh, I wish I had been able to get on the field and get this or that.’ At this point of the year, we know what we need to do to get ready. As long as we have an hour or so before the game, we should be locked in.”

Both are last-place teams in the Central divisions, but they are heading in opposite directions. The Royals (19-28) won their fifth consecutive game, and the Pirates (14-29) lost their third straight. They play the final game of their season series at 2:05 p.m. on Sunday.

The Pirates got going early at the plate but got another inconsisent performance from Williams (1-7, 6.35 ERA), who gave up 10 hits and three walks with four strikeouts in five innings to lose for the fourth time in his past five starts. Williams struggled from the start. After Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes broke on his bunt and made a barehanded throw on Friday, Whit Merrifield looked down the line and shook his head. Then he swung way, lining a 2-2 fastball over the left-field wall to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates tied it on Bell’s opposite-field homer in the second inning. Bell is tied with Pedro Alvarez, Brian Giles and Kevin Young for 17 interleague home runs, behind Andrew McCutchen (20) and Starling Marte (18). Bryan Reynolds crushed a curveball 421 feet to dead center to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

They stretched it to 3-1 when Adam Frazier hit a line-drive homer to right in the third. But Merrifield singled to start the bottom of the third, and Adalberto Mondesi followed with a two-run homer 417 feet over the glove of Bryan Reynolds in center to tie the game at 3-3.

“I have to stop giving up homers. It’s really that simple,” said Williams, whose 12 home runs allowed are second-most in the majors this season. “It just compounds. You give up a base hit, whether it’s hit hard or hit soft, and it compounds. Those are the ones that hurt you.”

The Royals took control with a three-run fifth inning, as Williams struggled to execute and gave up three hits and a walk. Mondesi singled stole second base and scored on a single by Salvador Perez through shortstop to give the Royals a 4-3 lead. Williams fielded Alex Gordon’s soft grounder with his glove but flubbed a backhand flip to catcher Jacob Stallings, allowing Perez to score for a 5-3 lead. Edward Olivares hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Hunter Dozier to stretch the lead to 6-3.

“I think he needs to realize who the runner is and he had more time,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The fact that he went with his glove, and the fact that the ball was to his right, coming off to his right, so it’s an easier barehand, field it and make the play. Even if he fields it with his glove, with Salvy running, he has the time to make a good, hard flip to (Stallings). So I think just tried do too much there, it ended up getting away and the game kind of got away from us.”

The Pirates had runners on first and second after back-to-back singles by Bell and Gregory Polanco with no outs in the seventh, but Reynolds grounded into a double play that forced Polanco out at second. Bell advanced to third but was stranded on Kevin Newman’s groundout.

After getting two outs in the seventh, Pirates reliever Kyle Crick lost command and gave up singles to Gordon and Kelvin Gutierrez and walked Edward Olivares to load the bases. Crick then walked Nicky Lopez on five pitches to make it 7-3.

The Pirates got aggressive baserunning by shortstop Erik Gonzalez, who stretched a grounder through short into a double, stole third and scored on Frazier’s groundout to second to cut it to 7-4 in the eighth.

Afterward, Shelton said moving Williams to the bullpen isn’t even a consideration, calling it “too strong of a move.” Williams wants to prove that he belongs in the starting rotation, despite his struggles.

“I believe I’m a good pitcher, and I believe I can continue to get outs like I’ve always gotten outs,” Williams said. “It’s just one of those things where I have to be more consistent. I’ve got to prove it to this new staff, and I have to prove it to the guys so they can trust me. I’m looking forward to doing that in my last few starts.”

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports