Dingers, dingers, dingers
“Well, that was loud”
That is what the radio announcer said after Hunter Renfroe launched a ball over the left field fence in Arizona to make it 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning. I heard the crack of the bat. The announcer did NOT, in fact, lie. The damp/cool weather did not seem to affect the Royals hitters. Maybe it really is the Kauffman Stadium parking lots that are suppressing homers in the deep summer of Kansas City.
Anyway, the Royals chose to score runs mostly through dingers and walks (there were also some strikeouts) today. Some good ol’ three-true-outcomes baseball with Bobby Witt Jr hitting a homer in the first and Renfroe plus Peyton Wilson following in the fourth. Vinnie got ahold of one on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth. The very next pitch and batter, catcher Brian O’Keefe (uh, who? aren’t I supposed to know who’s on the team?), smacked a homer of his own. I mean, the Royals scored a little bit without using home runs, but the homers are the story here.
Look – the HR section of the box score was an entire paragraph. Not just a sentence. I think that kind of covers the offense for the day.
The radio announcer word of the day for the pitchers was “sharp”. Seth Lugo looked sharp as he struck out 5 and walked 2 in 2 2⁄3 innings of work. Hunter Harvey looked sharp as he punched out 2 in 1 inning. Zerpa struck out 2 in 1 inning. All together, the boys on the mound struck out 10 Angels in 6 innings of work and walked only 2. That’ll play.
This was my first experience so far listening to ball/strike challenges happening on the radio. I can confirm they were quick. Fine, I guess. Whatever.
Ok so the game ended abruptly because it was raining in the desert and it was cold and what-not and they played 6 innings and did not feel like playing anymore. This recap will end abruptly because I had Friday afternoon radio baseball going and it was cut short.
The 9-4 Royals will take on the 7-3 San Francisco Giants at 2:05pm US Central on Saturday, March 8th.