Kansas City Royals at Washington Nationals

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

84-74, 39-38 Away

Final
3 - 0

Washington Nationals

69-89, 36-41 Home

Royals ride bullpen to 3-0 win over Nationals after Lorenzen's early exit

“Throwing strikes,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro explained. “We know that’s a big key is to challenge hitters. They have good stuff. They know that.”

Michael Massey singled in a run off DJ Herz (4-9) to help lift the Royals to a second straight shutout victory after a season high-tying seven-game losing streak.

Kansas City and Detroit are both 84-74 but the Royals hold the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Tigers for the second wild-card spot. The Tigers beat the Rays 7-1 on Wednesday night.

Daniel Lynch IV (2-0) worked 2 2/3 scoreless frames in relief of Lorenzen, who exited with lower body fatigue after 2 1/3 innings in his first start since sustaining a left hamstring strain on Aug. 27.

Lynch has not allowed a run in 10 relief appearances since he was recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Aug. 26.

“Since he’s come back up, he’s thrown the ball exceptionally well. And that was a huge part of tonight as well,” Quatraro said.

Angel Zerpa, John Schreiber and Sam Long bridged the gap to Lucas Erceg, who completed his 13th save. That effort extended the Kansas City bullpen's scoreless streak to 15 2/3 innings over four games, and the pitching staff's overall scoreless run to a franchise record 26 innings.

“When it’s going Zerpa to Schrieber to Long to Erceg, I mean that’s pretty nasty guys,” Lynch said. “So I think that when guys just keep going and doing their jobs, it makes it easier.”

James Wood and Nasim Nuñez had the only hits for Washington, which fell to a third consecutive shutout defeat and has lost eight of its last nine games.

"I think they’re pressing for sure," Nats manager Dave Martinez said. “We’ve just got to go out there and relax tomorrow and just get a good pitch to hit.”

Lorenzen cruised through the first two innings but departed with a batter retired in the third after a brief visit from the team medical staff. He threw 28 pitches, striking out two and officially issuing two walks, the latter coming on the at-bat that Lynch completed.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Royals: Kansas City optioned RHP Steven Cruz to Triple-A Omaha to make room for Lorenzen.

Nationals: Manager Dave Martinez confirmed that All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams has reported to the club's complex in West Palm Beach, Florida as planned and will work out there through Sunday. Abrams was demoted from the major league team Saturday for what was termed an internal matter.

Left-hander Patrick Corbin (6-13, 5.58 ERA) will pitch likely his final game for the Washington Nationals on Thursday. He is the last remaining active Nationals player who was on the 2019 World Series-winning team. His six-year, $140-million contract expires at the end of the season. RHP Michael Wacha (13-8, 3.28) goes for Kansas City.

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This story has been changed to correct that Robbie Grossman hit a two-run single not a two-run double.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Washington Nationals?

TV Channel: Royals at Nationals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Matchup Prediction

Nationals: 46.3%

Royals: 53.7%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Millas grounded out to pitcher.
	9th Inning	Vargas lined out to first.
	9th Inning	Gallo struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Erceg relieved Long
	9th Inning	Renfroe in right field.
	9th Inning	Pham in left field.

Statistics

KC		WSH
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
10	Ground Balls	12
6	Strikeouts	7
3	Runs Batted In	0
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	2
0	Stolen Bases	2
3	Walks	5
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	0
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
33	At Bats	29
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
15	Runners Left On Base	14
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	0
17	Fly Balls	10
0	Caught Stealing	0
144	Pitches	135
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
8	Total Bases	2
36	Plate Appearances	34
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
1	Extra Base Hits	0
1.9	Runs Created	0.2
.212	Batting Average	.069
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.242	Slugging Percentage	.069
.121	Secondary Average	.241
.278	On Base Percentage	.206
.520	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.275
0.6	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
1.9	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.2
21.0	Batter Rating	4.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
4.00	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.97
.030	Isolated Power	.000
0.50	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.71
.083	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.147
-.091	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.172
6.0	Runs Produced	0.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	0.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.1
72.8	MLB Rating	56.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0