Astros vs Royals Recap: Royals Blank Astros, 4-0

The Royals beat the Astros 4-0 at home on Sunday. This was a huge bounce-back after Houston won the day before, 8-7. The Astros came in needing a win. Houston's pitching staff had new leaders taking over after their ace Framber Valdez left in free agency. The Royals' lineup was ready to fight. Kansas City had won just one of their last ten games heading into this matchup. Both teams knew this game mattered. The Astros missed their star catcher Yainer Diaz, who was still working his way back from an oblique injury. Houston also had Carlos Correa out for the season after ankle surgery. The Royals were dealing with injuries too. But Kansas City's defense and pitching were about to take over completely.

Spencer Arrighetti took the mound for Houston. The Astros pitcher threw hard but Kansas City was ready. In the first inning, Maikel Garcia stepped up with two outs. Arrighetti fired an 89-mile-per-hour cutter. Garcia made solid contact and drove it to left field for a single. Bobby Witt Jr. raced home from third to score. The Royals were up 1-0. Two innings later, the scoring picked up again. Caglianone singled to right field. Collins scored from second base. Jensen moved to second. Then Garcia came up again. This time Arrighetti threw a 79-mile-per-hour curve. Garcia crushed a double to left that scored both Caglianone and Jensen. The Royals now led 4-0 and had completely dominated Arrighetti's pitching.

Stephen Kolek was absolutely brilliant for Kansas City. The Royals pitcher threw 7 and one-third innings. He gave up just five hits and zero runs. Kolek struck out four Astros batters and walked only one. Houston's hitters could not get anything going. All those stars like Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Peña went quiet. Christian Walker managed just one hit in four tries. The Astros' offense simply disappeared. Meanwhile, the Royals added one more run early to make it 4-0. That was all they needed. Steven Cruz and Daniel Lynch IV came in to close it out. The final score stayed 4-0. Houston's season record fell to 33-40. Kansas City improved to 29-43. The Royals' pitching staff had proved why they can compete in close games. This shutout was the perfect example of dominance.