San Diego Padres Finish Three Game Sweep Of Royals

For the sixth time this season, the Royals were swept in a series, losing on Wednesday afternoon by a 4-1 final to the San Diego Padres. With the loss, Kansas City stands 0-6 all-time at Petco Park, the only major league park Kansas City has yet to play in and win a game.

To make matters worse, Kansas City finished the game on Wednesday not having allowed an earned run as all four of the Padres runs came unearned, via an Mike Moustakas error in the bottom of the third inning, after the Royals had briefly held a 1-0 lead.

Kansas City took the lead in the third as Eric Hosmer doubled to plate Melky Cabrera for the Royals lone run. On the day Kansas City totaled just one run on eight hits. Alex Gordon was the only Kansas City player to pick up two hits, going 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.

On the flip side, Jeff Francoeur had a brutal day at the plate, going 0-for-4 with four stikeouts, facing just 16 pitches.

Bruce Chen took the loss for the Royals, falling to 4-2 as he allowed four runs (none earned) on eight hits through six innings. He struck out six and walked one. Between he and reliever Louis Coleman, the Royals combined to strike out the San Diego hitters 10 times, while issuing just one walk.

Tim Stauffer pitched seven innings for the Padres and picked up the win to move to 4-5. He allowed one run on four hits, while striking out six and walking two. Heath Bell allowed two hits in the ninth inning, but was able to finish the game without allowing a run, en route to his 23rd save on the season.

Personally the most positive note may be the fact Billy Butler finished the series 0-for-6 and his 131 series streak of obtaining at least one hit has now come to an end. I say that for the fact we no longer will have to hear Royals television broadcaster Ryan LeFebvre mention the streak during nearly every telecast. While it was a great feat, it seemed to be one of those feats were a stats guru was stretching to find a statistic to write home about.

After starting the season 20-17, the Royals now sit at 33-48, while San Diego improved to 37-45. The depression of a long season has start to set in for many Royals fans, which will make it interesting to see what Royals manager can do to right the ship as Kansas City closes in on the annual all-star break.

After a day off Thursday, Kansas City will be heading to Denver to face the Rockies on Friday evening as Danny Duffy (1-2 4.61 ERA) face Juan Nicasio (1-2 5.08).