Royals can't complete comeback after disastrous first inning in 10-8 loss to Astros

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Jun 12, 2026

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals tasted their own blood on Friday night.

The Houston Astros came out swinging in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez threw a nasty left hook that caught Royals starter Luinder Avila, homering in his first at-bat. And then Alvarez went for the jugular with a grand slam to deep center field.

All of this happened in the first with Avila on the mound for Kansas City.

Alvarez brought the fight to Kauffman Stadium. He belted two homers and drove in six runs in the opening inning, and the Astros went on to beat the Royals, 10-8, in Friday night’s series opener.

His Astros teammates followed suit: Houston scored nine runs before the Royals could take a single at-bat.

Avila was chased after facing 10 batters, Houston batting around. He recorded two outs and allowed eight earned runs in his truncated start.

The Astros (32-39) knocked Avila around right away. Batting second, Alvarez crushed his 23rd homer of the season off a misplaced change-up.

Christian Walker followed with a solo homer of his own, depositing an 87-mph slider into the left-field bullpen.

Avila lost his command. He left too many pitches over the plate and the Astros took advantage.

With Avila knocked out early, the Royals’ face was on the mat. But they found a way to stay in it, battling back with a couple of their own salvos.

It just wasn’t enough to overcome the large deficit.

The Royals scored five of their runs in the bottom half of the first inning. KC sent nine batters to the plate and cut into the visitors’ sizable lead.

Vinnie Pasquantino had an RBI single and Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey and Kameron Misner also each drove in runs.

Massey hit a two-out RBI double off Astros starter Tatsuya Imai. Later, Misner recorded a two-run single to knock Imai out of the game. Imai allowed five runs on four hits and, like Avila, departed in the first inning after throwing 38 pitches.

Both teams were squarely into their bullpens at that point. And neither side allowed much more damage.

The Royals’ relievers kept the deficit in reach. Black allowed Alvarez’s grand slam, but three of those four runs were charged to Avila. Black settled down after that, throwing 2 1/3 innings before handing off to Steven Cruz, Lucas Erceg and Eli Morgan.

Cruz and Erceg combined for two scoreless innings. Morgan didn’t allow a hit and kept the Astros from adding on.

The Royals mounted one final comeback in the eighth inning. Garcia reached on a leadoff single and scored on Massey’s RBI single. Then Bobby Witt Jr. rapped an infield hit that drove in a run and loaded the bases.

Starling Marte pinch hit for Pasquantino, nearly legging out an infield single. But Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena made a strong throw and the putout, the third out, stood up on review.

KC was that close to pulling off an improbable comeback. The Royals finished the evening 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position (RISP).

Houston added an insurance run in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Brice Matthews drilled a solo homer 433-feet into the left-field seats.

That was the final blow for the Royals. KC dropped to 28-42 and has now lost three of four on its current homestand, which started with a series against the Texas Rangers.

What’s next?

Royals left-hander Noah Cameron (3-4, 3.84 ERA) will start Saturday’s game opposite Astros right-hander Mike Burrows (3-8, 5.77 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:10 p.m. Central Time at Kauffman Stadium.