Royals fall behind early, lose to Brewers in opener of Saturday's doubleheader

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Apr 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals pitcher Luinder Avila made the first big-league start of his career in game one of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

Avila, 24, was recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Friday. The right-hander earned the spot-start as Michael Wacha was pushed back due to an illness.

The Royals expressed confidence in Avila. This spring, manager Matt Quatraro indicated Avila was a future frontline starter.

On Saturday, Avila didn’t have his best command. He allowed five runs in three innings, walking three batters. The Brewers (6-1) elevated his pitch count and Avila was out of the game soon after.

Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell did significant damage. He recorded a career-high five RBIs in Milwaukee’s 5-2 victory. Mitchell hit a two-run double in the first inning and belted a three-run homer in his second at-bat.

Mitchell has 10 RBIs this season, second-most in baseball.

“I missed a lot of pitches and I was not finishing hitters off,” Avila said via an interpreter. “They put some good swings on the balls.”

The Royals, meanwhile, were silenced offensively. Brewers starter Chad Patrick allowed four hits across five scoreless innings. Milwaukee has now won six of it's last seven games.

Kansas City had early scoring chances. In the second inning, Jac Caglianone and Isaac Collins reached base with singles. But a double-steal attempt squashed that momentum — Caglianone was thrown out at home plate while trying to score from third.

“It was not a delayed steal,” Quatraro said. “Jac’s got to break as soon as the catcher comes up to throw.”

The Royals also squandered chances in the fourth and sixth innings. They finished 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

“We’re not changing really anything too much at the plate,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “Can’t really try to score. You just go out there, get a good pitch and take a good swing. And whatever else happens, happens.”

Patrick pounded the strike zone with his cutter, sinker and four-seam fastball. There were a few pop-ups that resulted in hitters just missing the barrel.

“He was putting pitches in good locations,” Witt said of Patrick. “And so, we just got to take advantage when we have runners on base.”

The Royals turned to their bullpen late. Relievers Daniel Lynch IV and Alex Lange locked down the middle frames to keep the deficit manageable.

“They did hold it right there,” Quatraro said. “I mean, they gave us a chance to win. You know, we had some opportunities in the middle innings that we didn’t capitalize on to get us a little bit closer, but they put up six zeroes after that. So that was an impressive outing from all of them.”

Lynch made a terrific defensive play in the fifth inning. He snared a soft liner off the bat of Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick. Lynch knocked the ball down, recovered and reached out to tag Frelick before he reached first base.

Lange struck out the side in the seventh inning. He got Brewers sluggers Christian Yelich, Mitchell and Jake Bauers in order.

However, the Royals (3-4) failed to make a comeback. Kansas City scored twice in the seventh — Lane Thomas and Witt driving in runs — but have now dropped their last two games. They were set to turn to right-hander Seth Lugo in the second game of the doubleheader.

Avila struggles in first start

The Brewers made Avila work on Saturday. Milwaukee wasn’t overly aggressive, as hitters waited patiently for Avila to find the strike zone.

Avila recorded just eight of 19 first-pitch strikes. The Brewers made hard contact on his sinker early.

Per Statcast, Milwaukee recorded six hits and six batted balls on the sinker. The Brewers didn’t chase much when Avila threw his off-speed pitches.

Mitchell clubbed his double on a 97.3 mph sinker left over the plate. His home run came on a curveball that he hit over the right-field wall.

“I was able to finish off hitters better in the second inning,” Avila said. “They were taking a lot of pitches, really in the first (inning). But yeah, I was just going at them.”

The Royals surrendered 10 hits in the game. Avila, stretched out as a starter now, still has a chance to stick around with injuries in the bullpen.

“I consider myself a winner,” he said, still through an interpreter. “Just have to go out there. It’s bad that I didn’t give the team a chance to win today, but more days to come.”

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