Wacha and the Bats Wake Up Out West

The Royals bats came out early and often and Michael Wacha had his best outing in awhile to get a nice win to start the series.

The conversation around Michael Wacha was not what you’d call positive. Prior to his start last night, he’d given up 26 hits in 13.2 inning over his last four starts. He’d allowed eight or more hits in four of his last five starts. It was not only ugly but had people wondering many things about him. Would he make it through the season in the rotation? How would the Royals handle the $16 million player option he’d assuredly pick up if this maintained? Those questions all still exist, but boy was it nice to see him go out there and pitch well enough to quiet them for a few days.

The offense assuredly helped him. I’ll get to it, but nothing helps a pitcher more than a big lead. The stress is just off. We all know how it goes. When you try to do anything perfectly, the odds are that it isn’t going to work out that way. Pitching is no different and when you have no room for error, you don’t have a real chance to pitch freely. So that certainly was big for him, but I see two things that give me hope for the future.

First I want to point out something interesting about Wacha. Last year was good enough that it landed him a $16 million contract with the Royals with the chance to add $16 million more to it by his choice after the year. Having an ERA of 3.22 will do that. But after his first start of May last year, he had a 5.46 ERA through 31.1 innings. Before taking the mound in Anaheim, he had a 5.50 ERA in 37.2 innings this year. Last year, he started his recovery in the first of May, but that’s worth noting.