The Boston Red Sox had to like the situation they were in Saturday night, needing just one more strike to force extra innings with their best reliever on the mound in Garrett Whitlock.
Whitlock was cruising along too, but then things turned disastrous in a blink.
The talented right-hander left a 3-2 change-up up in the zone and Kansas City Royals first baseman Nick Pratto made him pay, belting a walk-off solo shot to center field to hand the Red Sox a crushing 5-4 defeat at Kauffman Stadium.
The usually even-keeled Whitlock let his frustrations be known after the game about the costly pitch he threw.
"I'm pissed off," Whitlock told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "Obviously not at ya'll. Not at anybody but myself. The guy made a good freakin' swing, but that was a terrible pitch by me. So yeah, I'm pissed off at myself."
Whitlock had no problem setting down the Royals lineup after he took over in the seventh inning for Red Sox starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
Whitlock retired the first eight batters he faced with relative ease, as he threw only 27 pitches in 2 2/3 innings of work. But Pratto made Whitlock work, extending the at-bat with two foul balls before getting a pitch he could do damage with. Pratto made sure not to miss it, as the Red Sox suffered their eighth walk-off loss of the season.
"Made a 3-2 change-up that was a mistake and he hit it out," Whitlock said. "Just trying to fill up the zone and he made really good at-bat and he had a really good way to end it."
Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters that he went with Whitlock for a third inning due to his efficiency in the outing and the fact that Cora planned on giving the trusted reliever two days off regardless.
It didn't end up working out for Whitlock or the Red Sox, but Cora wasn't overly upset by it.
"It's one of those, he just got beat, and you tip your hat to the kid and you move forward," Cora said, as seen on NESN postgame coverage."
Here are more notes from Saturday's Red Sox-Royals game:
-- Eovaldi still hasn't regained his ace form as he labored through six innings. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits -- two of which were home runs -- while walking none. The one plus from Eovaldi's outing was he fanned seven Royals batters.
"He used his split more than often. Used his curveball," Cora told reporters. "Obviously they put pressure on him. They did the same thing with him last year here. They put the ball in play. They got a lot of hits. But he gave us a chance to win. It didn't look great, but he has gave us six."
-- Alex Verdugo snapped a homerless skid by belting a solo shot off Royals lefty Daniel Lynch to start the top of the sixth inning. Verdugo hadn't hit a round-tripper since June 29.
"If you see Dugie's at-bats the last month and a half, they've been clutch," Cora said. "He's been hitting the ball hard. He's been patient. Sometimes he doesn't get rewarded, sometimes he does. But that was a beautiful swing."
-- The two teams combined for five home runs in the contest with the Royals obviously hitting the most important one.
-- The top three hitters in the Red Sox order -- Tommy Pham, Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts -- combined to go 0-for-12 with six strikeouts in the loss.
-- The Red Sox look to salvage a split of the four-game series from Kauffman Stadium on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, with NESN 360.
