KC Royals’ power outage deepens as miserable road trip finally comes to an end

Maybe a change of scenery will help. Anything to shift the Royals’ fortunes.

For the first time this season the Royals were swept in a series, losing 4-0 to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park on Sunday. The Royals ended their road trip with a 2-7 record created largely by an unproductive offense.

How bad was it in Texas? The Royals scored two runs in the series opener, and that was it — they were shut out both Saturday and Sunday.

Their scoreless streak stands at 22 innings as the Royals return home to Kauffman Stadium on Monday.

The Royals have been part of the American League playoff picture since early April. But if the season ended with Sunday’s games, they’d be the first team out.

“We’re going to keep playing hard,” Royals catcher and captain Salvador Perez said. “We’re going to forget about today. It’s over. Bad series for us. We concentrate on tomorrow and try to win the series at home.”

Rangers starting pitcher — and former Mizzou Tigers star — Max Scherzer made his season debut Sunday and did his part to keep Royals’ bats quiet. He retired the first 13 batters he faced before MJ Melendez’s double to the right field in the fifth.

At that point, dating to Saturday’s game, Rangers pitchers had retired 32 of the previous 33 Royals batters.

But it didn’t matter who toed the rubber for the Rangers over the weekend. The Royals couldn’t muster a threat. In the sixth, a leadoff single from Maikel Garcia turned into a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play when Dairon Blanco whiffed.

The Royals finished with two hits, one fewer than their total on Saturday. The five hits are their fewest in a two-game span since 2017.

“When you’re scuffling a little bit you want to see anything fall,” said bench coach Paul Hoover, who was filling in for manager Matt Quatraro on an interim basis. “When you hit a ball hard it’s right at somebody.”

Struggles continued for all of the Royals, including young star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who went 0-for-Texas. Witt, playing in his home state, was hitting an AL-best .330 when the road trip started.

He’s now batting .311.

Royals starting pitcher Alec Marsh improved on his previous outing, when he surrendered seven runs in three innings at Oakland. This time, Marsh departed after 5 2/3 innings, his team trailing 3-0.

The deficit grew on a pop fly that just eluded Witt’s glove: He couldn’t catch up with Leody Taveras’ flare in the fourth inning. The ball fell just beyond the diving Witt and two runs scored, increasing the Rangers’ lead to 3-0.

Marsh had come this close to limiting the damage that inning, getting a pair of outs after the Rangers had taken a 1-0 lead and put runners at second and third with just one away.

But the way things have been going for Royals lately, Taveras’ bloop seemed inevitable.

“I made some good pitches today, I thought,” Marsh said. “Definitely on the up, more positives for sure.”

Adam Frazier a late scratch

Adam Frazier, set to bat leadoff and serve as the Royals’ designated hitter, was a late scratch.

He was bothered by a sprained thumb that occurred in Saturday’s game while he was playing right field. He and center field Garrett Hampson collided on a ball that Hampson caught on a diving play.

Nelson Velazquez was inserted into the lineup at DH on Sunday, and Nick Loftin, originally hitting fifth, was moved to the leadoff spot.

Next for Royals

The Royals return home Monday to open a three game series against the Miami Marlins at Kauffman Stadium.

Left-hander Cole Ragans (4-5, 3.13) will oppose Miami right-hander Roddery Munoz (1-2, 5.67) in the series opener at 7:10 p.m.

Seth Lugo is set to pitch Tuesday’s 7:10 p.m. game for the Royals, and Brady Singer gets the ball on Wednesday in a 1:10 p.m. start