Royals get to Gusto quick and rally falls short, lose 7-5

Seven runs through the first three innings ended up as just enough for the KC win

After starting the 2025 season with multiple solid outings on the mound, the Kansas City Royals got to Houston Astros starter Ryan Gusto early and fast.

After a clean first inning from the Astros pitcher, the Royals tagged him for four runs in the top of the second, starting with a leadoff homer from Michael Massey to get KC on the board. He followed this up by retiring the next two hitters before four-straight hits from the Royals added another three runs to their total, up 4-0 in the second.

Gusto went out to start the third and allowed the four Royals hitters to reach, three of them on walks, before being taken out of the game with the bases loaded and one-out, down 5-0.

In just under three innings, Gusto’s ERA rose 1.80 runs, going from 3.00 to 4.80.

Once Gusto was done, head coach Joe Espada handed the ball off to his bullpen, starting with Tayler Scott who, after allowing an RBI-single, finished the inning with a sac-fly and a groundout, putting Houston down 7-0 in just the third.

Ryan Gusto’s final line:

2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 68-39 (Total pitches-Strikes)

Scott was able to give the Astros one more inning of scoreless baseball before the Astros turned back to their bullpen, handing the ball off to Bennett Sousa still down 7-0.

This was the beginning of a trend for this game, and it was the opposite of what we got last game courtesy of Ronel Blanco. After a great start from him yesterday for Houston, the Astros instead got a great game out of their bullpen today, who went 6.2 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just four Royals to reach between four arms.

It wasn’t till the seventh when Houston was able to get on the board, starting with back-to-back doubles from Jake Meyers and Zach Dezenzo, their first two extra base-hits of the game. They tagged on one more after this before the Royals finished off Houston after going to their bullpen for the first time this game, Astros still down 7-2.

They kept this going in the next inning after a leadoff double from Astros catcher Yainer Diaz kicked off a three inning rally for the Astros, including RBIs from Jake Meyers and Cam Smith, putting the Astros back just 7-5, but that was all they could manage.

The Astros weren’t able to get to Royals starter Michael Wacha until the seventh. Through his first six innings of work, Wacha had allowed just seven base runners, with only two of them reaching scoring position. This is Wacha’s second start against Houston this season and the second time the Astros couldn’t do a thing against him, throwing six innings of scoreless baseball against them just a few weeks ago.

Following the sixth, in the last three innings of the game, the Astros collected six hits and two free passes, leading to all five of their runs.

Diaz was one of three players who collected two hits in the game and he was able to extend his hit-streak to a team-high 10-games.

This is only the first of a three-game series against the Royals at home, with tomorrow’s game starting at the same time; 7:10, in Daikin Park.