Weekend in Review: Another Royals Series Win

The Royals are clearly playing better baseball, but they may have really needed a sweep.

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Many teams have a mantra that if they just win series, everything will fall into place. And that’s a great thought until you get to a point where winning a series may not quite be enough. If you harbored any hopes of the Royals actually getting back into the playoff race this weekend against Cleveland, I broke it down on Friday, but they pretty much needed to sweep. Nobody will complain about taking two of three in a weekend, but Sunday’s finale was a swing of two games in the standings, so with that loss, they’re 7.5 games back of Cleveland with 24 to play instead of 5.5 back. One of those numbers was daunting but bordering on manageable. The other, well, isn’t.

They could go out this week and have another perfect homestand, and suddenly things are back to looking up. But they went into the weekend with four, maybe five losses left before their slimmest of slim hopes were gone. Now it’s three or four. We can eulogize and pinpoint each moment things went wrong before the last few weeks that made this stretch a nearly impossible run, but I also think it’s important to recognize it was still a good weekend and a good road trip. It was just their second winning road trip of the year. They took four of six in late April/early May and that was it. They did go 5-5 on a trip in late May/early June, but this is the second road trip all year they won more than they lost. You don’t get to 26-46 on the road by winning.

So here we are, with 24 games to go, and it does feel like even the tiniest hope is essentially gone, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not fun to watch them play better baseball down the stretch. If they want to start another nine-game winning streak, I certainly won’t turn that down. We’ll get to it at the bottom with what’s up next, but they’ve got a challenge this week at home with three teams fighting for the postseason. The Marlins are currently 3.5 out of the last Wild Card spot. The Blue Jays are currently 1.5 out of the last Wild Card spot. And the Diamondbacks are one-half game ahead of the Padres for the third Wild Card spot in the NL. So everyone has something to play for.

Kauffman Corner

There is no podcast from last night because we’re recording tonight at 9 pm CDT! So make sure you catch us either on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch (I think?), or wherever you get your podcasts after the fact. We’ll dig into the recent success, if they’re even remotely in the race, etc.

The Games

Friday - Royals 3, Guardians 0: Wacha was Wonderful

This was a fantastic game, and there are two big stories from it that aren’t Michael Wacha, but Wacha is the biggest story by far. He was just outstanding in what was probably his best start as a Royal. Here’s his final line:

8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 10 K, 0 BB

It’s just the second time he’s gone eight innings this year and his third time with the Royals. It’s the first time he’s struck out 10 or more since he did it against the Royals with the Padres in 2023, and just the third time since 2015 and the fifth time in his career. And, friends, this is not a short career. He has now made 336 appearances and 335 starts. He’s two innings short of 1,800 in his career. And he’s struck out double-digit batters just five times. And one of them was Friday night!

It was one of those nights when everything clicked. Ironically, three of the four hits he allowed were on his best pitch, the changeup. But he had the four-seamer humming, touching 97.8 MPH in the third inning. Now, he used to throw harder more consistently than he does now. He reached as high as 99.1 MPH in a game against the Cubs in September 2017. But his last pitch at 97 MPH or harder was August 23, 2024, against the Phillies. The last time before that was September 28, 2021, against Houston. He’s broken 97 just seven times since 2019. When I saw that velocity on the screen (and it showed 98), I was legitimately shocked.

Everything he threw was harder. I don’t think it’s a hot gun because they’re all uniform radar guns these days, but his four-seam average was up 1.6 MPH. His changeup was up the same. His cutter was up 2.3 MPH. His curve was up 1.2, his sinker 1.3, and his slider 2.0. So I don’t know what the deal there was. But whatever it was, he was doing was working. He got 16 overall whiffs. He only gave up five hard-hit balls. He threw first-pitch strikes. He allowed two baserunners in the third, but only allowed one more until the bottom of the eighth, when he gave up a one-out single, but that batter never made it to second even.

In the eighth, when he got the first out on one pitch, I was dreaming of a complete game. But Petey Halpin singled on the eighth pitch of his at bat. Steven Kwan needed six to strike out. If he could have gotten out of there at maybe 94 pitches, I could see it, but he was at 103, so they weren’t going to chance it. I get it.

So now we can talk about the two other big stories. The Royals scored their first run in a way fitting of a pitcher’s duel, with a Bobby Witt Jr. double followed by him advancing to third on a Jac Caglianone fly ball and then scoring on a grounder by Salvador Perez. But with Wacha ready to come out of the game and Steven Cruz warming up, I think everyone wanted a little more than a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Thankfully, Isaac Collins (and Jo Adell) was ready to help. He hit a ball to right-center that Adell just missed, and it ended up as a double for Collins. Josh Rojas sacrificed him to third, but Kyle Isbel had a truly miserable at bat, striking out while swinging at four pitches that were not in the zone. Only one was even close. So with two outs, it looked like the Royals might waste an opportunity for insurance. Carter Jensen had other ideas.

He got a cutter at the top of the zone, and he didn’t miss it. Craig Yoho, the Guardians pitcher, has a fantastic changeup, but he gave Jensen three straight cutters after starting the at bat with a changeup that Jensen fouled off. Maybe he didn’t like the swing and got worried, but I have to tell you that giving a guy three straight looks at a pitch doesn’t often end positively. I’m not complaining. And that gave Jensen the franchise record for home runs by a rookie catcher, which is a lot to say not much, but it's nice that he's now ahead of MJ Melendez and has been heating up after a cold stretch.

Now to the bottom of the ninth. You know the final score, and it’s been three days, so you know what happened. But Cruz pitched what I think might be the most dominant and stressful save I’ve ever seen. Chase DeLauter caught up with 99.6 MPH in the middle and hit a ground ball through a hole in left field. He hit it hard enough, so whatever. But then Cruz got Jose Ramirez to look silly on a slider in the dirt for the first out.

Then he badly tied up Adell on a 99.6 MPH fastball up and in and gave up a tiny little bloop to right. But then he threw three straight at 100+ MPH to Nathaniel Lowe and got two swinging strikes and a foul ball for the second out. Then he hit a guy on a pitch that I don’t think hit the batter. Replay saw something I guess. But then got an ugly swing from Angel Genao to ground out softly to end the game. The winning run was at the plate, but I don’t think anyone really wanted to face Cruz. A win is a win, and Wacha deserved every bit of it.

Saturday - Royals 8, Guardians 3: Josh Rojas and the Royals Bullpen Come Through…Why Not?

You could argue Wacha deserves the win in this one too because he saved the bullpen for an adventure start from Daniel Lynch IV, who has had decent results but continues to prove to me that he should be part of the 2027 bullpen. Lynch needed 70 pitches to get through 3.1 innings, and he gave up two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The two runs came on one swing by Angel Martinez, but it was still an extremely uneven outing.

That bullpen, though, was incredible. Until Alex Lange came in and allowed a run on two hits, they threw 4.2 perfect innings. Anthony Gose, of all people, threw 1.2 innings and ended up getting his first win since 2022 with Cleveland. He’s now faced eight batters over two outings and retired all eight. That will work, though he hasn’t struck anyone out. He also hit 98.3 MPH with his four-seamer and got the Guardians to chase on five of the nine pitches he threw out of the zone.

After Gose, it was Craig Kimbrel, who continues to be really impressive. He worked a 1-2-3 sixth. He’s now thrown 6.1 innings with the Royals and allowed just one hit and two walks. He’s only struck out three, so yes, there are concerns about long-term viability, but he’s been a heck of a find. We talked about Kimbrel last week on the podcast, I think, and the selling point to keeping him around next year is if he is obviously like sixth in the pecking order but can be a coach who also plays. I don’t think that’s the worst thing to have, and I do wonder a little if they’ve missed that aspect of Carlos Estevez beyond just him closing out games.

John Schreiber was next with a perfect, but strikeout-less inning. Then after the game, we found out the Royals had put him on waivers, which is an extremely common thing for teams to do with players like Schreiber. It has nothing to do with being cheap, though they would save about $600,000 if he’s claimed (we’ll find out today). It has everything to do with either clearing a roster spot or giving a veteran who will be a free agent a chance to go play for a pennant that he likely won’t be playing for in Kansas City. The fact that they did it during their run tells me that the front office is far more realistic about their chances than many were fearful they were.

After that, Nate Pearson had another outstanding outing, getting Cleveland 1-2-3 on 13 pitches. He continues to show that he will go into next season with a spot reserved in the bullpen. He’s given up just one run on seven hits in 14.2 innings. He’s walked six, which is fine. I’d like to see more than 13 strikeouts in 14.2 innings, but if he moves into a middle relief/setup role with that arm, yes please.

And obviously Lange gave up a run when it was 8-2. He’s kind of pitching for his 2027 life right now, I think. Cruz and Pearson have settled some things for power righties. They acquired Carlos Duran already. I feel very confident saying they’re going to get more. I think at some point, Lange has to feel like he is heading toward a non-tender, and I think that would be the right move.

Now let’s talk the comeback. Foster Griffin held the Royals down quite well in the first four innings. He gave up a double to Perez and a walk to Tyler Tolbert in the second, but Collins hit into a double play to end that inning. It was six up, six down in the third and fourth. But a Nick Loftin double and Tolbert infield single was followed up by Collins making up for that earlier double play and a couple of defensive gaffes at second base with a double down the line to tie the game.

The Royals broke it open in the sixth. Witt singled to center, and Caglianone singled to right to move Witt to third. Perez followed with a line drive double to score Witt and move Caglianone to third. And with Griffin out, Matt Quatraro went to work re-gaining the platoon advantage. John Rave hit for Tolbrert and hit a grounder to third that Jose Ramirez kicked. That scored the fourth run. Collins got Perez forced out at home on a grounder, but Josh Rojas pinch hit for Matthew Lugo and took an excuse-me swing and just dumped a ball into left field to drive in two and make it 6-2.

Move ahead to the bottom of the eighth, Rave singled and Rojas came up.

There aren’t many home runs the Royals have hit softer than that 92.4 MPH, but it still counts the same. What a day for Rojas. He comes off the bench to go 2 for 2 with a home run and four RBI. Rave and Rojas combined to go 3 for 4 with three runs scored and four RBI, so those are two solid moves. It was a good day for the Royals, a great day by Quatraro and an outstanding day by most of the bullpen and Rojas.

Sunday - Guardians 11, Royals 1: Lugo Implodes

I want to be careful not to be too harsh toward a certain starting pitcher, so I don’t have a lot to say about this game other than that I would go ahead and tell Seth Lugo to enjoy his winter and see what Lucas Braun can do the rest of the way. They likely can’t do that without a grievance because Lugo has an innings clause that can trigger his 2028 option to vest, but I think we’ve all seen enough of Lugo this season.

In August, after giving up nine runs in 3.2 innings to raise his ERA to 5.03, he gave up fivie or more runs in four of his six starts. Is the line drive off his head still impacting him? I don’t know, but he has a 6.27 ERA in 14 starts since he came back. He’s throwing fewer pitches, even if only slightly. He threw eight different ones yesterday, and two of them were a slow curve, so he barely threw that. But he only had six whiffs on 47 swings.

All of his velocities were way up. Quatraro mentioned either on pregame or on MLB Network Radio yesterday morning that he’d changed some things up and was having a little trouble getting into a rhythm. I need to go side by side, but I didn’t notice much of a delivery change by the naked eye. Though for the second straight game, his curveball that was already one of the highest-spin pitches in baseball had more spin than usual. He’s a smart pitcher, but whatever he’s doing just isn’t working. He needs to go back to the drawing board and reinvent himself for 2027 because this simply isn’t good enough.

You kind of wondered if it would be one of these days even before he took the mound because the offense mounted a two-out rally with a Caglianone double and Perez bloop single to score him. Then Pasquantino singled, but Loftin struck out. Lugo immediately gave up three runs that was initially aided by an error in right field by Caglianone, but then became irrelevant because Lugo was 0-2 on Adell but couldn’t put him away and ended up walking him before allowing a home run to Nathaniel Lowe.

On the bright side, I actually thought Connor Thomas looked good again. I’m not sure I’d stretch him to a third inning of work. He gave up his first runs with the Royals when he was out there after having worked in the previous two innings. But I also sort of get it. I don’t fully get it because they have the off day today and can add a pitcher tomorrow when rosters expand, but why not? Jose Cuas threw another scoreless inning. He’s been interesting. and Luke Maile threw an eight-pitch eighth. He even got a swing and miss.

So anyway, a bummer of a finale, but also a 4-2 road trip is nothing to sneeze at. Again, they haven’t done much of that this year. I don’t want to let yesterday’s rough game cloud what’s been an outstanding stretch of baseball for the last few weeks.

Player of the Week

Even with the loss yesterday, it was a good week for the Royals, going 4-2 and scoring 30 runs in six games (which includes scoring one run total in the two losses). The heroics of Rojas on Saturday were great, and he hit .444/.500/.889 this week, but it was in just 11 plate appearances so he probably is out of the running. Pasquantino had a nice week, hitting .278/.435/.444 with a 156 wRC+, but that’s not good enough and we know it. Isaac Collins hit .333/.400/.500 wiht a 139 wRC+ in 20 plate appearances, which is solid and great to see on the road. But it really came down to two hitters, Jensen and Caglianone, and one pitcher.. Here are the numbers:

• Jensen: .273/.433/.545, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 R, 170 wRC+

• Caglianone: .435/.435/.652, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 206 wRC+

• Wacha: 8 IP, 4 H, 10 K, 0 BB, 0 R

Let’s be real, Jensen is out, but good week for him. I generally struggle with one-start pitchers getting this because they were out there one time. But Wacha was so dominant that it makes it tough for me to go against him. Still, I have to go with the guy who should win the American League Player of the Month and give it to Caglianone. Again.

The Week Ahead

I mentioned above that it’ll be a tough week for the Royals, though they aren’t playing any great teams. The Marlins are one game over while the Blue Jays are two games under, though they did sweep the Mariners after the Royals took it to them in the finale. Let’s start with the Marlins, who just lost two of three to the Nationals after losing two of three to Boston. They were 26-34 at the end of May, but went 26-8 to get to 10 games over. They’re 17-26 since then. If you know what the Marlins are, you’re a step ahead of me. I will say that they’re 42-27 at home and 27-41 on the road. Sound familiar?

Their offense is pretty well-balanced. Kyle Stowers seems to have found a home at first base, while Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez are a dynamic middle infield, albeit without much power. Heriberto Hernandez has come in this year, and they have some young talent in the outfield in Jakob Marsee and Owen Caissie, who are a little hit-or-miss. Girffin Conine has been fantastic for them. Old friend Esteury Ruiz has been really good for them too. They’re an interesting offense.

The pitching staff is mostly quite good. Sandy Alcantara is the name ace, and he’s had a nice year. Eury Perez is the guy you don’t want to face, though. He had a rough one his last time out, but he has a 2.18 ERA in 78.1 innings in his last 14 starts with just 46 hits allowed. He came back last year from Tommy John and was fine, but he’s rebounded now to get back to the form he showed as a rookie. Their bullpen is led by Calvin Faucher, Michael Petersen and Tyler Zuber, a name you’ve all probably forgotten, but he’s having a nice year. They have a lot of power in that bullpen, even though it’s not always effective power.

Here are the projected pitching matchups:

• Tuesday: RHP Tyler Phillips (3-6, 3.59 ERA, 18.9% K, 9.9% BB) vs. RHP Randy Dobnak

• Wednesday: RHP Eury Perez (7-10, 3.44 ERA, 26.8% K, 10.6% BB) vs. LHP Noah Cameron

• Thursday: TBD but probably RHP Sandy Alcantara (13-8, 3.46 ERA, 17.9% K, 6.4% BB) vs. RHP Michael Wacha
  

The Blue Jays aren’t quite as bad on the road as the Marlins, but they are 31-35 away from Toronto. There likely isn’t anything you need to know that we didn’t cover last week about them other than the fact that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is just a slight threat to homer on the road whereas he’s no threat at home. Matchups aren’t set yet, but if everything holds between now and Friday, it’ll be RHP Jameson Taillon vs. Lynch, RHP Max Scherzer vs. Lugo and RHP Spencer Arrighetti vs. Dobnak.