Phillies bring all the fireworks to Royals’ fourth straight loss

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - JULY 04: Michael Wacha #52 of the Kansas City Royals throws against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium on July 04, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Royals fell to the Phillies 6-1 after Michael Wacha allowed four runs on three homers in six innings. This was Wacha’s first start after being named a 2026 American League All-Star. While it was among his worst starts of the season, it wasn’t a terrible start overall. He even struck out 7! But the Royals’ offense had almost nothing going for it. They managed only 5 hits and didn’t walk once while striking out 15 times.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Bobby Witt Jr., just named an All-Star starter for the first time, went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen struck out a combined 5 times. Tyler Tolbert was the only Royal to reach base more than once. He hit a pair of singles and stole a base each time. His season OPS has now almost reached Salvador Perez’s.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Lucas Erceg pitched the seventh and gave up a run. Jose Cuas, just back up with Stephen Kolek returning to the Family Medical Emergency List, pitched an inning and gave up a run. Beck Way got the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning. He allowed a single and a walk, but he’s the only reliever who got a strikeout. So.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The game was over early when Wacha gave up back-to-back home runs to J.T. Realmuto (with one on) and rookie Gabriel Rincones Jr. in the fourth inning. The Royals scored their run in the bottom of that inning when Lane Thomas doubled down the third base line, advanced to third on a Caglianone groundout, and scored on a Nick Loftin infield single. That single broke an 0-for-23 slide for Nick.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Just to rub salt in the wound, Jonathan Bowlan pitched the seventh for the Phillies, striking out three in a row after allowing a leadoff single to Starling Marte. Clearly, no one was paying any attention to the game as you could hear the sounds of fireworks being fired all around Kauffman Stadium for most of the second half of the contest. I managed to turn the broadcast off before they did their usual annoying thing of attempting to broadcast a postgame show from directly underneath the after-game fireworks display. I don’t know who decided it was a good idea to do that every home Friday game, but it makes for a truly awful television experience, regardless of whether the Royals won.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Royals will appear again tomorrow afternoon. Not on Royals TV, though. This game will be a national broadcast on Peacock at 2 PM CDT. Luinder Avila will face off against Aaron Nola. Do what you want with that information.