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Things were going splendidly for the Houston Astros against the Kansas City Royals through seven innings in tonight's ball game. Brian McCann led off the scoring with a solo shot in the bottom of the third, his second of the season. The Astros would load the bases in the bottom of the fourth and push across one run thanks to a Marwin Gonzalez single to score Carlos Correa.
Dallas Keuchel was once again dominant through seven innings. The only blemishes during his start were two hits to Royals third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert, one a solo home run in the top of the fifth. Aside from that, Keuchel induced 13 ground balls, one more than his previous start on opening night. He'd end his night pitching seven innings, giving up two hits and one run while striking out four and walking one.
When A.J. Hinch handed the ball to Luke Gregerson to pitch the eighth inning, it felt as though the Astros would cruise to another close win. Sadly, fans' dreams were dashed shortly into his relief appearance. After going up 1-2 in the count on Alcides Escobar, Gregerson lost control of the at bat and issued a lead off walk. Things only got worse from there.
Mike Moustakas singled on the first pitch he saw, putting runners at first and second. Drew Butera followed up with a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Alex Gordon pushed both runners across the plate on a two RBI double to put the Royals ahead 3-2. However, the bleeding didn't stop there.
After getting a strike on Lorenzo Cain, Gregerson then surrendered a soft blooper down the right field line that scored Gordon to put the Royals up 4-2. The next two batters, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez, quickly put the game to bed with back-to-back home runs and increase their lead to 7-2.
Gregerson finally gave way to Brad Peacock, who quickly got Cuthbert to ground out and followed that up with a Paolo Orlando strike out to put an end to the Astros' and their fans' suffering. Peacock went on to close out the ninth inning as well. He ended his night pitching an inning and a third, striking out three.
The Astros would get a consolation run in the bottom of the ninth. Carlos Beltran doubled and later scored on a Gonzalez ground out. The game ended 7-3 after a McCann ground out.