Royals offense goes cold in 3-2 loss to Cubs

Good thing the Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs decided to play seven innings Tuesday. Had they stopped at six, the Royals would have been no-hit.

By the seventh inning, the Royals had more errors (two) than hits (none). But they equaled that number when second baseman Clay Dungan hit a one-out single and the next batter, outfielder Edward Olivares, smacked a two-run home run to left-center to put the Royals on the board.

And that was it for the offense for the day. The game was ended after the Cubs batted in the bottom of the inning and the Royals finished with a 3-2 loss, their first of the Cactus League season.

The Cubs got all their runs off reliever Daniel Lynch in the bottom of the fourth inning. After facing the minimum three batters in the third, Lynch opened the fourth by allowing a single to Jason Heyward and a walk to Kris Bryant. Austin Romine grounded into a double play, but two more walks loaded the bases for Rafael Ortega, who cleared them with a triple that gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

The Royals got a good start from right-hander Jakob Junis, who struck out three while allowing only one hit over two scoreless innings.

The relievers who followed Lynch were solid. Tyler Zuber allowed one hit and a walk over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Right-hander Greg Holland struck out the side in the sixth, stranding Alfonso Rivas, who had reached second base on left fielder Anderson Miller’s fielding error. And right-hander Kyle Zimmer pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to end the game.

New Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi flied out, grounded out and struck out in three at-bats.