The Comeback Kids Strike Ag...For the First Time

The Royals weren't about to go a whole season without coming back from three runs down. Just 147 games.

It’s understandable if you saw the score of the game after the second inning and decided to watch the latest version of some crime procedural with a random city name in the title. How could you not have just assumed this one was over? The Royals had played 165 games since the last time they were down by at least three at the end of an inning and came back to win. They had trailed by three or more runs at the end of an inning in 65 different games in 2022 and they were 0-65 in those games. In fact, they only came back to hold a lead at any point in one of those previous 65 games.

So yeah, I get it. But this game wasn’t any game. No sir. Did it mean anything? Also no. But it was not your normal game, and I think part of that is that the Twins came into the evening circling the drain. They had just lost four games in a five-game series with the Guardians, who lead the division. That meant they came into the night seven games out with 15 to play. Oh, and they were in third place, so even if they did make up the ground on the Guardians, maybe the White Sox would still be in their way (though that’s unlikely with six games between the teams remaining). So it stands to reason that they were maybe a little tight in this one.

Even with a 3-0 lead, it sort of felt like it was a lead that was resting on a couple of wobbly posts that may not make it. Dylan Bundy hasn’t been horrible this season, but he hasn’t been what you’d call good, though he did pitch pretty well for a couple of innings. What I appreciate about how the Royals handled their business in this one is that it was a game of picking up their teammates. That third inning started with a double down the line for Edward Olivares, who does nothing but hit. But the next two batters, Hunter Dozier and Nate Eaton, struck out swinging.

MJ Melendez came up next after hitting a popup to third on a changeup that was pretty much a perfect pitch in his first at bat. In this at bat, he got another changeup, but the spot was awful and Melendez did what he should do to it.

That was his first home run since September 3, which is also the last time the Royals had multiple home runs in a game. It made the score 3-2 and sometimes just getting the scoring started can help a team think they have a shot. If the Royals hadn’t scored there, it would have been all too familiar, but very well could have shut them down for the rest of the night.

I mentioned the team not having multiple home runs in a game. Well, that streak reset with an unlikely hero to tie the game up, Dozier.

Let’s talk a little bit about this home run. Dozier’s last home run came on July 31st in Yankee Stadium. You might recall it was a big one. But since then, he had come to the plate 120 times and in those 120 plate appearances, he had recorded 19 hits and just five extra base hits, all doubles. He walked six times and did reach on an error once. Dozier’s offensive collapse since the break is pretty monumental. He was hitting .265/.327/.445 heading into his eight days off, including the Toronto series. Even with his 2 for 4 night last night, he’s hitting .174/.225/.255. His last multi-hit game was August 28. So yes, to say that he was an unlikely player to tie it up with one swing might be a bit of an understatement.

But even moreso, that pitch was in a spot that he has never really done well against. In his career, he’s 6 for 31 with just two extra base hits on fastballs in that zone. He’d never hit a fastball there harder than 98.3 MPH. And he’s also not been a player who has been an early-innings performer. Coming into the game, he’d hit .206/.258/.353 before the seventh inning (and a surprising .282/.352/.408 from the seventh inning on). So it was an unlikely player at an unlikely time on an unlikely pitch. To break long streaks, sometimes the unlikely needs to happen.

After the Dozier homer, Eaton (who I’ll get to defensively shortly), singled, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, which opened it up for Melendez to get him home from third with less than two outs, but he popped it up. And that led to Bobby Witt Jr. hitting a screamer in the box score.

After the lead was surrendered within three batters, the Royals got the lead back for good on a weird series of plays in the seventh inning. Melendez hit a one out double, which gave him his first multi-extra base hit game since July 12 against Detroit. Witt had a nice at bat against Michael Fulmer and got a four-seamer in the middle that he crushed to deep left, but Melendez had some terrible base running.

His mistake was that he went back to the bag to tag. He should have been half way because there was no real reason to think about tagging to go to third with Salvador Perez up next and two outs. It did take a perfect relay throw to get him, but still it was a big mistake. Of course, him getting thrown out at the plate led to Salvy’s latest hero moment to pick him up.

So the Royals ended up with back-to-back-to-back doubles with just one run scoring, which is kind of difficult, but I guess good for them for doing something weird. And of course, that was a pitch way outside the zone that Salvy got the hit on. How could it be any other way? It was Salvy’s 183rd career RBI with two outs and a runner in scoring position. His 119th in late and close situations. His 191st in a tie game. His 185th in the seventh inning or later. And his 103rd against the Minnesota Twins.

As unexpected and unlikely as Dozier’s big hit was, Salvy’s was that likely. I mentioned this on the air in Lawrence on my Monday spot, but Perez needs to be talked about more, I think. His overall season line isn’t great. He’s hitting .249/.284/.464. But since coming back from his surgery, he’s hitting .297/.321/.511 with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs in 47 games. The 162-game pace there is 38 homers and 131 RBIs. He is truly a machine built for driving in runs. We saw what he did in 2021 with a healthy season. I’m intrigued to see what he can do in 2023.

But it wasn’t all perfect. Obviously, to overcome a three-run deficit, you have to fall into a three-run deficit and that happened with Zack Greinke pitching to contact just a little too much and his defense didn’t help him out. In the second inning when the Twins got all three runs that made up that deficit, Greinke’s defense didn’t make an error behind him.

But Eaton missed two plays that he will tell you he should have made and he’d be right. The first was a chopper from Jake Cave that hit Eaton in the glove. It bounced out and Cave was safe. The second was a ground ball single that went right under his glove. It wasn’t an easy play, but it’s a play that needs to be made. Had he made the first play, Matt Wallner’s double wouldn’t have scored a run. And the line out before Carlos Correa’s single that went under his glove would have been the third out.

Greinke, of course, wasn’t an innocent bystander. If he could have gotten a few more swings and misses, things could have been very different, but he only had five all game. And he was hit pretty hard throughout the night, so maybe things did even out. For example, in the fifth inning, Greinke gave up two hits and faced just three batters without allowing a run. How? Ahh yes, the ol’ single, double play, double with the runner getting thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple inning. That’s how.

The defense actually did keep the Royals in the game and generally picked up Greinke other than that second. In the third, Michael A. Taylor did this.

In the fifth, Nick Gordon hit a ball to the wall and Taylor and Witt combined on a gorgeous relay throw to get him at third trying to stretch it into a triple. And in the sixth, with the tying run having crossed the plate, Michael Massey and Dozier combined on a very nice play where Massey threw from short right field and Dozier had to make a strong pick to get the throw. The runner was originally ruled safe, but replay overturned it and kept the game tied.

My biggest complaint is a Mike Matheny one, and it’s the way he handled the late innings of the game. I understand completely that he is hamstrung by a lack of quality options, especially with Taylor Clarke and Josh Staumont both still on the IL. So he used Dylan Coleman in the seventh to handle the top of the lineup. I’m good with that. And then he went to Jose Cuas for the eighth. To be honest, I’m fine with that too. Cuas has had control issues, but he’s generally been solid. And it’s not like the other options were obvious either. His choices were Cuas, Brad Keller, Collin Snider, Anthony Misiewicz, Luke Weaver or Carlos Hernandez.

So fine, he chose Cuas. Great. What bothered me is that Barlow was warming up while Cuas was facing his first hitter. If you don’t trust the guy and you’ve already made up your mind, just don’t use him there. But Cuas got Gordon on a lineout to start the inning, so that’s great. Then he hit both Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez to put runners on first and second with just one out. And that’s when he pulled Cuas. I’m good with pulling Cuas there. You can see what was happening with his pitches.

What bothers me is that he was forcing Barlow into a situation that didn’t need to happen. Matheny said after the game that Cuas was only facing three batters regardless. Sure, I believe that given that Barlow was warming up right around the time Cuas threw his first pitch. But similar to me hating the idea of leaving a starter in until he gives up a hit so a reliever can inherit a mess, I hate this idea. If you’re going to pitch Barlow for five outs, just pitch him for six. Or go with someone else who you are willing to trust to get through the inning. I think the decisions were fine and even good after Cuas was already in the game, but it’s just a poor way to handle a bullpen, in my opinion.

But complaints after a win always feel a lot better than complaints after a loss and especially wins that basically eliminate the Twins from the playoffs. Yes, they could still win the division, but after the Guardians beat the White Sox in extra innings last night, Minnesota is now eight games back with 14 to play and Cleveland has the tie-breaker over them. That means that even if the Twins finish 14-0, the Guardians would have to finish 5-9 for the Twins to take the division. It seems unlikely. Playing spoiler can be fun.