Weekend in Review: Sweeping the Reds Away

The schedule gets tougher soon, so the Royals had to do what they had to do against a sub-.500 team.

It’s easy to look at the Reds as a team that is four games under .500 and a group that a good team should have their way with, but the underlying numbers show they’ve been better that. Coming into the weekend, they had a +55 run differential in spite of their 60-61 record. So when the Royals put up 28 and allowed just three over the weekend, I have to say that it wasn’t exactly the same as when they take it to the White Sox or teams of that ilk. The reality is that beating anyone the way the Royals beat the Reds is worth celebrating.

I’ll get to the games, of course, but the way they did it was quite impressive too. Let’s take a look at the weekend’s numbers. First for the starters:

17.2 IP, 11 H, 1 R, 18 K, 5 BB, 0.51 ERA

Now the relievers:

9.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 14 K, 3 BB, 1.93 ERA

And now the offense:

.350/.380/.564, 10 2B, 5 HR, 27 RBI, 8 BB, 24 K

That’s quite the team win for the Royals. When they are doing everything right like that, I don’t know of a single team that can beat them. They obviously have their holes on this roster, so it’s not a regular occurrence that they’re firing on all cylinders quite like that, but their top level is very impressive.

An Opportunity Awaits

I’m going to write about the week ahead in the section that I aptly title “The Week Ahead” but I’m not sure that I’ll even adequately explain how important these next few days could be for the Royals. It’s a little bit crazy that we’re scoreboard watching less than a year removed from watching a team finish the year 50 games under .500, but here we are. With a pretty much perfect day yesterday in terms of a Royals win along with three teams (Guardians, Twins and Red Sox) losing, it set things up quite nicely for a big week.

We know the Royals come home to host the Angels and the Angels are not exactly a good team. They’re 53-71 with a -111 run differential. They’re just 12-16 since the break. They aren’t good. The Royals absolutely have to take care of business. That’s the first step and really the only thing that matters. If the Royals take care of business, they’ve put themselves in a spot with their 17-10 record since the break that they’ll get everything they want if they just do their own part.

But it won’t hurt for other teams to help them out a little bit, and here’s what their closest competitors are facing this week:

Cleveland - 3 at NYY, 3 vs. TEX
Minnesota - 3 at SD, 3 vs. STL
Boston - 3 at HOU, 3 vs. ARI

To a lesser extend, the Orioles, Yankees and Mariners play some role in the Royals future as KC is just 3.5 games behind the top Wild Card spot, which would mean a home series. The Mariners are 5.5 games back, but I’m not quite ready to bury them, so here is what those three teams are dealing with this week:

Baltimore - 3 at NYM, 4 vs. HOU
New York - 3 vs. CLE, 3 vs. COL
Seattle - 3 at LAD, 3 vs. SFG

This might be weird to say, but I feel like we’re rooting for the Yankees this week. Hang on, let me go barf. Okay, I’m back. But if the Yankees can have a big week, that means they’ll take care of Cleveland and if they do that while the Orioles stumble with a tough schedule, that means the Royals could gain ground on that top Wild Card spot. The Twins have a tough go, at least to start the week, with three in San Diego against one of the hottest teams in baseball. There is a world where the Royals are tied for the division lead by the time they take the field against the Phillies.

That seems unlikely, but the fact that it’s even possible is crazy. Forget last season. They were 10 games out less than two months ago. Don’t forget that the Royals go to Cleveland for four games in three days a week from today. This next week will determine just how big that series is, but the next few days have a chance to be fantastic for the Royals. I’ll say it again, louder for those in the back. It only matters if they take care of their own business.

The Games

Friday - Royals 7, Reds 1: Bullpen Management Perfection

I think it’s fair to say the final score didn’t represent how close this game was all night long, and I want to point something out as the most significant thing to come from this one before I get to anything else. Matt Quatraro managed his bullpen perfectly. He pulled various pitchers with two outs in an inning in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. In two of those three innings, there was a runner on. The guy he called on in all three of those innings got a strikeout.

It was a combination of pushing the correct button and the reliever coming through and doing his job. I think Quatraro has pushed a lot more correct buttons than people realize this season, but he was missing the relievers doing their job, and in this game, the relievers did their jobs throughout the entire time. The quartet of Kris Bubic, James McArthur, Sam Long and Carlos Hernandez combined to throw 3.1 innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Again, the final score makes it seem like less of a big deal, but it was a big deal until the ninth. It was one of the best bullpen nights the Royals have had all season.

Let’s look at how we got there.

Nick Martinez was doing pretty much what he does. He threw a bunch of strikes, and the Royals just couldn’t get it going against him. He was nine up and nine down through three, just throwing the ball in the zone on the edges. He got the first batter in the fourth, and it looked like more of the same, but the difference between the Royals and other teams is that the Royals have Bobby Witt Jr.

The Pablo Sanchez bat he was using had the power to get that ball 430 feet from home plate. The guy is simply ridiculous. I could go on and on and on about him, but these Weekend in Reviews already run long, so we’ll go ahead and save it for another day.

They had a vintage Royals inning in the sixth when Witt doubled to start things off. Pasquantino got him to third, and then a typical infield single for Salvador Perez scored Witt. After an MJ Melendez fielder’s choice and a Paul DeJong strikeout, who else but Adam Frazier came through? He hit a single to right field to score the game's third run, and that was ultimately enough.

Michael Lorenzen was good in this one, his third start with the Royals. I want to go into it, but Lance Brozdowski did it better than I could have, so I encourage all of you to read this.

The Royals Fixed Michael Lorenzen. Jordan Montgomery's New Changeup

This is what I think you hope for in a Lorenzen start. You don’t want him seeing the lineup too often. You probably don’t want him getting up to 105-110 pitches. But if he can utilize his pitches at the right time and locate them well, he can be a big weapon for this team every fifth day. It was a impressive outing for him.

Of course, in the sixth, he got in just a little trouble. He walked Jonathan India and then gave up a two-out double to Tyler Stephenson. TJ Friedl was due up next, and Quatrato made his first strong move of the night, going to Kris Bubic out of the bullpen. Lorenzen is good against lefties, so I think there’s an argument to be made that he could have stayed in, but Quatraro saw that as a game situation after the Royals had just put up two and the Reds had already answered with one, and he went with a guy he trusts. It took three pitches, and the inning ended.

In the seventh, Bubic got two quick outs before he gave up a double to noted Royals killer Ty France. The Reds had already announced a right-handed pinch hitter for Will Benson, so the Royals countered with James McArthur. The Reds then countered with Jake Fraley. So McArthur was in there for a lefty, which, given the many comments we’ve heard from Quatraro in the past, he probably anticipated was at least a possibility. McArthur had looked really good in his previous two outings, both in garbage time, but it has to start somewhere. As you know, he struck out the hitter with one of his best curves in months.

McArthur got two outs in the eighth, though the second was a hard-hit grounder, and Sam Long came on to get the final out against Elly De La Cruz, who is way better hitting lefty than righty. Long, of course, got the strikeout. That’s just masterful work by all involved.

The Royals got some insurance in the ninth, which allowed them to stay away from Lucas Erceg. Frazier singled and Freddy Fermin doubled in the fourth run for the Royals. Kyle Isble and Michael Massey both made outs, but the Reds then decided to put Witt on first with an intentional walk. Pasquantino took that personally.

There is nothing more satisfying as a fan than watching a guy get intentionally walked and watching the next guy hit an absolute tank. I’m sure it’s even more satisfying for the player. I think Pasquantino enjoyed it too as he flipped his bat toward the Royals dugout and just shrugged.

So, with a 7-1 lead, the Royals turned to Carlos Hernandez. He gave up a leadoff double, but then looked like first half 2023 Hernandez and struck out the next three with a fastball averaging 99 MPH. He looked great.

Saturday - Royals 13, Reds 1: The Dairon Blanco Game

If I told you before the series that a ridiculously fast player had two home runs and seven RBIs in a game this weekend, you’d almost definitely say that Witt continues to impress. Then when I tell you that it was actually Dairon Blanco, you’d call me a dirty liar and move on, but that’s exactly what happened. There was so much more to a 13-1 final than just Blanco, but I don’t think we can just mention what he did in this one and move on.

Before Blanco’s first at bat, the Royals were leading just 1-0. It was still a game. Granted the at bat came in the second inning, but it was still early enough that anything could happen. With a runner on second and two outs, Nick Lodolo had the number nine hitter at the plate and a chance to keep it 1-0. Blanco had other thoughts.

That’s not a cheap home run, either. Dead center at 104.4 MPH is impressive. Blanco isn’t without power. He had 14 homers in 2021 and 2022 in the minors. He hasn’t shown much of it in the majors to this point. But he wasn’t done. A bases loaded walk and a DeJong single made it 5-0, and the bases remained loaded for Blanco.

That yellow crayon bat was doing some very serious work. He’d pick up an RBI single in the fourth inning as well to give him his seven RBIs on the day, which is just crazy considering he came into the game with five RBIs all season long. The Royals didn’t score again after the fifth and the only run allowed was by Angel Zerpa on a home run, but that’s just a massive win.

Lost in all of the craziness of the offense is that Michael Wacha was fantastic. He led with his changeup, as he so often does, but his fastball was doing work as well and he had two whiffs on his sinker and his slider each. He was incredibly efficient with just 87 pitches through six and only gave up four hits and one walk while striking out nine.

Wacha gave up seven runs in 3.2 innings on May 4 against Texas. He left that game with a season ERA of 5.50. In his next start in Anaheim, he unveiled his brand new slider. Since then, Wacha has made 15 starts covering 89.1 innings, so that’s just under six innings per start. In that time, he’s struck out 77, given up 70 hits and walked 28 with a 2.42 ERA. He hasn’t given up more than three earned runs in any of those starts. I mentioned this after his last start, but I’m just never impressed watching him and, yet, he always performs.

Sunday - Royals 8, Reds 1: Sweeping in Style

While all three wins this series were of the blowout variety, giving the Royals a 29-12 record in games decided by five or more runs, this one was a lot more like Friday night’s. Andrew Abbott gave the offense some trouble in the first two innings before he had to sit 59 minutes for a rain delay and the bottom of the second. When he came back in the third, he was just struggling.

Blanco picked up a bunt single with his yellow crayon bat, Witt was walked and Pasquantino singled home Blanco. Then a wild pitch moved both runners up, and Perez was able to hit a sacrifice fly to score the second run, which, as it turns out, was all the Royals needed. They’d pick up another run when Blanco led off the fifth inning with another tank to dead center.

Before this weekend, Blanco had 108 plate appearances and had hit .227/.269/.289 with one homer and five RBIs. He’s now hitting .257/.295/.400 with four home runs and 13 RBIs. That’s a heck of a weekend.

A Maikel Garcia double eventually led to Pasquantino hitting his 13th sacrifice fly of the year to give the Royals a 4-0 lead that felt like it was iron clad until Sam Long came into the game in the seventh. It had started raining once again, and he seemed excessively uncomfortable. He didn’t appear to be able to grip the ball, but also struggled with his landing because the mound was so muddy. He gave up an infield single and then just couldn’t throw strikes, culminating with a pitch clock violation for his third walk that walked in a run.

So Quatraro had to push the correct button again and he went to Lucas Erceg in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out. Four pitches later, De La Cruz struck out looking on a pitch that looked low on the broadcast but may not have been upon further review. And an eight-pitch battle with Spencer Steer led to another strikeout to get out of the jam. Then Erceg pitched the eighth and got two more strikeouts. He did give up a hit, but here are his numbers as a Royal:

8 G
9.1 IP
4 H
12 K
0 BB
0.00 ERA
11 Inhereted Runners
11 Inhereted Runners Stranded

I mean come on. This is about the perfect start to a career, especially for a team with a bullpen in need like the Royals.

I was wondering who was going to pitch the ninth. McArthur has been way better lately, but he’s still shaky. Bubic hadn’t pitched on less than two days rest yet as a professional reliever. Hernandez had pitched two days in a row. Zerpa kind of stinks. Will Smith and Chris Stratton seem to be fine in non-leverage spots, but leverage has stumped them. But the offense came through with a classic Royals inning with four runs on six hits and McArthur came out there to protect the seven-run lead and the Royals had their eighth sweep of the year.

Player of the Week

Blanco could easily win this given the last two days he’s played, and if someone else hadn’t had yet another monster week, he probably would have. He hit .555/.555/1.556 for the week with three homers, four runs scored and eight RBIs. Those RBIs actually led the team. DeJong had a big week, hitting .385/.429/.692 in 14 plate appearances. Pasquantino started the week 0 for 10 and still hit .308/.345/.500. Freddy Fermin hit .350/.409/.450 with just one strikeout in 22 plate appearances. But the winner is, once again, Witt. He hit .409/.519/.909 with three homers, seven runs scored and three RBIs in 27 plate appearances. What a magical season.

The Week Ahead

The Royals return home for their third-to-last homestand of the season. You may not realize this, but they’re on an unprecedented run of facing red teams. Next up is the Angels, who are not good but have shown signs of maybe having some pieces for the future. Both Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel might be figuring things out. They’ve got a reliever in Ben Joyce, who routinely gets up to 102+ MPH. They’re not a good team, but they have some interesting pieces at the very least. Here are the projected pitching matchups:

• Monday: RHP Carson Fulmer vs. RHP Seth Lugo

• Tuesday: LHP Tyler Anderson vs. LHP Cole Ragans

• Wednesday: LHP Reid Detmers vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen

Fulmer spent most of the season in the bullpen before moving to the rotation. It hasn’t gone well, though he’s had his moments. He does have a 4.82 ERA in the rotation, including a rough outing his last time out, but he’s allowed just 22 hits in 28 innings, so he’s doing something right. Anderson has had a great season for the Angels, but he is arguably coming off his worst start against Toronto. I’m unsure if that’s a good or bad thing for the Royals. He’s always tough because he usually throws strikes.

And then it looks like Detmers will return to the big leagues after two and a half months in AAA. The results there were not good. He put up a 6.37 ERA in 65 innings with 74 hits allowed. He did strike out 83, which isn’t nothing, but he was also excellent in his last start. I’m not sure if that should be enough to get a guy back to the big leagues, but the Royals won’t complain about seeing a guy they’ve historically beaten around and got for six runs in May. This is a huge series for the Royals because the Angels aren’t good and what’s coming next is another freaking gauntlet.

It starts with the Phillies, who will come to town after another Thursday off day. That’s the first series of four in a row against teams currently in first place, which is the second time the Royals will have dealt with that this season. The Phillies haven’t had the all-world season it looked like they were going to earlier this year, but they have so much talent. Currently, the Royals are scheduled to face Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler, but there isn’t a combination of Phillies starters that’s an easy task. It’ll be a tough stretch, starting with this series.