Witt + Wacha = Win
A bad opponent helps, but the Royals have been doing exactly what they need to do. and were led by a star and a starter to do it last night.
On the morning of April 20, the Royals were 8-14 and they looked at the pitching matchup and saw Tarik Skubal on the mound for the Detroit Tigers. That was about as unenviable a spot to be as possible. Seven games under .500 in April isn’t necessarily the end of a season, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t tricky to come back from, even in the course of a long season. But the Royals won that game in extra innings and haven’t looked back, losing just twice since then. They now sit at 22-16 after a 2-1 against the White Sox, having gone 14-2 since that day.
And it’s a lot of wins like last night. I know I sound like a broken record, but the offense is better at its core. I mean that in two ways. First, the 3-4-5 that is now Vinnie Pasquatino, Salvador Perez and Maikel Garcia most nights (Garcia instead of Massey) is hitting better, which is helpful. But also, the offense’s raw numbers are simply better. In 15 games since the end of the Tigers series, they’re hitting .283/.334/.447 as at team. That’s good for a wRC+ of 116, which is ninth in baseball over the last 15 games. No, they’re not walking enough or generally hitting or enough power, but they’re hitting the ball. They’re just not scoring many runs with it. Last night is a microcosm of that, which is reason for offensive optimism and pessimism.
The Royals put up just two runs last night. On the surface, that feels like another really light effort against a starting pitcher who hadn’t exactly lit the world on fire to start the year. But they had 10 hits in eight innings on offense. They didn’t walk, but they had runners on all night long and just couldn’t get them home. I know I’ve gone through it like this before, so I apologize for the repeat in format, but look at every inning last night:
1st: Runners on first and third, one out; double play ended the inning
2nd: 1-2-3
3rd: Two-out double; pop out to end the inning
4th: Two-out rally to put runners on first and third; ground out to end the inning
5th: Leadoff single, two outs; Bobby Witt Jr. homers (2-0 Royals)
6th: Two-out single and stolen base; groundout ends the inning
7th: Leadoff single, bunt moves him to second: strikeout and flyout end the inning
8th: 1-2-3
That’s six innings with runners, but also only two of them had multiple runners on base, so maybe I’m being a little too nitpicky with last night’s game, but they were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. They’re now hitting .228/.283/.306. They have one hitter with an OPS over .900 in those situations and that’s Witt. Maikel Garcia is second at .276/.371/.345. Freddy Fermin has five singles in 15 tries with RISP, which is good, but they have three hitters total hitting .276 or higher in these situations (Fermin, Witt and Maikel Garcia).