The Royals fall back under .500
Listen, we can be as bummed out about this one as we choose to be. Perhaps it’s damning with faint praise, but outside the offensive explosion in Milwaukee, the Royals had averaged 2.333 runs per game this season. That means with today’s action, the average goes up a tiny bit.
Obviously, I’ve still got both winners and losers listed here, but I’m still going to make this as positive as I can. I challenge y’all to be positive in the comments, too. Not because the team deserves it, but because we deserve it.
Winners
Vinnie Pasquantino had been ice cold after the opening weekend series against Cleveland. As much as Royals fans have grown to hate Ty France and are growing to hate Gabriel Arias, Cleveland fans would be cursing Vinnie just as much if the Royals would win some more games. Tonight he went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, including this absolute tater to get the scoring going.
Vinnie opens the scoring!
Angel Zerpa came in and didn’t give up any runs. He didn’t allow any inherited runners to score, either. Yes, he walked the leadoff hitter, but he did his job. As the fifth man out of the bullpen, that’ll do.
Steven Cruz arrived in Cleveland yesterday, once the team realized they needed to put Hunter Harvey on the injured list. He’s pitched in both games, striking out two and walking one without allowing a run in 1.2 innings. This is his opportunity to make a case that he can strengthen the bullpen and he’s off to a great start.
Losers
Jonathan India went 0-for-3 with a walk, but the big problem is that he was pulled from the game with a leg injury. It appears he may have tweaked it while running out a groundball in the third inning. The good news, if any, is that he stayed in after injuring it for a while. That suggests the injury wasn’t that bad and perhaps he won’t miss much time. If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll even be the DH tomorrow. No, his OPS isn’t good, but he still gets on base more than almost anyone else on the team.
Salvador Perez had an RBI single in the ninth inning of this one, but struck out in his other three at-bats, including stranding a pair of runners in the sixth inning when the Royals were only down one. KC needs him to do better. Still, the single did give him a little three-game hitting streak, so hopefully he’s waking up.
Sam Long now has a 12.86 ERA after giving up three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, making the Royals’ comeback attempt in the ninth futile. The good news is that I fully expect him to be on the injured list before tomorrow’s game. He was consistently missing high today which could indicate he was not finishing his pitches due to some injury.
MJ Melendez was 0-for-4 again. His season OPS is now .314. No, that’s not his batting average. Or even his OBP. That’s his OPS. The good news is that even the Royals, who never want to give up on him, will have to do so soon if they want to continue to pretend they can contend.
Umpiring was awful for the second night in a row. Listen, I don’t want to get into whether or not they affected the outcome of the game, but they affected my ability to enjoy it with multiple terrible calls that went against the Royals. The good news is that the ABS will be in place by next season, and those calls can be challenged and the Royals will get their walks or avoid their strikeouts accordingly.
Honorable Mentions
Matt Quatraro is going to take a lot of heat for choosing to use Sam Long in the ninth instead of almost any of his other relievers (Chris Stratton is likely the only one people wanted to see less). I don’t know, it’s obviously not a good look in retrospect, but the offense hadn’t been hitting all night and the reigning second-runner-up to last year’s Cy Young Award was planning to pitch the ninth. The Royals are in the middle of a 17-game stretch without a day off, early in the year when it’s cold out and that takes an additional toll on players. I can see the reasoning behind letting Long see if he can figure something out in a game you expect you’ve lost instead of burning one of your two remaining top-notch relievers. You don’t want to waste any of Carlos Estévez’s or Lucas Erceg’s bullets this early in the season.
I know that wins in April count the same as wins in September, but the opportunity cost for a loss in April is not the same as one in September. There are a lot of games left to play that you might have a chance of winning. Sometimes you take a calculated risk that makes it more likely you lose this one game, so you’ll be more likely to win later games. It didn’t work out this time, but there is some logic to the choice.
So the Royals’ offense didn’t quite come alive early enough in this one. Here’s hoping they can build on that ninth inning success and do something they were very good at last year, avoid the sweep. Ace Cole Ragans will pitch for Kansas City. The Guardians will counter with Ben Lively. The game will start at 12:40 central time.