Errors, bullpen condemn the Royals to loss to Angels
The team drops back down to .500.
It started ugly. It was ugly in the middle. And it finished ugly.
Monday night’s game was, in a word…ugly.
The Royals dropped the first game of their 10-game homestead to the Angels by a final of 10-3.
Brady Singer took the ball for his second start of 2021 and pitched relatively well, dancing around difficultly in three of his five innings. He stuck almost entirely with the sinker/slider combo, turning to his change for only two pitches according to tracking data from Baseball Savant.
The slider was working well. He only had two called strikes on the pitch but got 18 swings with six misses. Four of those resulted in a strikeout, and well off the zone at that, showing that it is very much that put-away pitch that every starter needs.
In his two starts in 2021, Singer is throwing his slider harder than what we saw in 2020, averaging 85.9 mph this season compared to 83.1 last year. The result has been a little less horizontal movement, which has always been slightly below league average for sliders according to Savant, but an increase in drop by about five inches. It’s an incremental change, but again, a trend that is flagged here only as something to continue to watch going forward. The results haven’t necessarily been there yet, but we need more of a sample size to draw any kind of conclusions.
The issue with Singer’s start was more about his locating of the sinker. It sounds counterintuitive, but when pairing it with the effective slider, he should be using it up in the zone a little more. Especially if he’s going to be throwing it around 95 mph, which he did on Monday. He didn’t start climbing the ladder with the pitch until the later innings of his outing.
Honestly, that looks more like fatigue than a change in approach. But by mixing the sinker up and the slider down, he’s giving hitters two different planes to consider.
But hey…it’s not like Singer pitched poorly on Monday. Yes there was trouble to work around, but he did well for the most part. Six strikeouts and no walks in five innings will play. He got BABIP’d a little, gave up some hard contact here and there, but ultimately didn’t get barreled by a single Angels hitter. It was good enough, with a better showing from his teammates both at the plate and in the field, for him to pick up the win.
The carnival of errors
Singer didn’t pitch poorly, but was battling trouble on the bases for most of the night and was ultimately betrayed by his defense. Back to back singles opened the Angels’ half of the second and when Jared Walsh tagged on a medium-depth fly ball to center to attempt to advance to third, I was prepared for Michael A. Taylor to unleash another assist.
But the throw deflected off of Walsh, diving headfirst into the bag. From there, everything went south.
Just bad luck for the throw to deflect off the runner. Although upon reflection, I would agree with Uncle Hud’s assessment that Taylor should’ve gone to second with the throw to keep the trail runner at first and the double play in order with Albert Pujols coming up next. Also, after staring at the above gif for several rotations, perhaps Hanser Alberto should’ve stepped forward to receive the ball instead of waiting for it to come all the way to him to the left of the bag.
The Angels opened the fifth again with back-to-back singles. A groundout advanced them to second and third and after a line out it looked like Singer could escape another jam. But Nicky Lopez couldn’t handle a Shohei Ohtani grounder and another run scored.
The Angels started the second, third and fifth innings with those pesky back-to-back singles. The damage could’ve been so much worse. Yet, it also could’ve been so much less. Four runs allowed from Singer, but only one earned.
Frustrating, to be sure.
Play of the game
Shohei Ohtani, double in the top of the 7th
WPA: .188
This was the hit that broke the game open for the Angels in the later innings. But really, those are just details. I mean look at this violence:
Scott Barlow turned so fast to track that ball he’s lucky he didn’t get vertigo.
Ohtani is just amazing.
Really, all you can do is just appreciate the greatness.
A swing and a miss, and a swing and a miss, and a swing…
The Royals struck out 14 times against Alex Cobb and the Angels bullpen. It was the fourth time in eight games this season the Royals have whiffed exactly 14 times in a game. From 1969 to 1985, the Royals struck out 14 or more times in a game…four times. Total. That’s it. Baseball has changed, man.
And that’s fine. Strikeouts are just part of today’s game. Through the first week and a half of the 2021 season, hitters are striking out roughly 25 percent of the time. With the strikeouts accumulated yesterday, the Royals are whiffing at an above-average rate of 28.5 percent.
Yeah, it’s a lot.
There’s plenty of swing and miss in this Royals lineup. That’s not going to change and if I were a betting man, I’d drop a wager right now that they’re going to finish with an above-average strikeout rate in 2021.
Not ready for prime time
Carlos Hernández made an appearance, charged with securing a single out to staunch the damage in the seventh inning. After issuing an intentional walk to Trout (probably a fine strategy), he walked Jared Walsh to load the bases. A run scored when he spiked a pitch to Justin Upton and eventually put him on base with another free pass. And that was it…11 pitches, two swings and one called strike. Eight balls.
It was an ugly outing (there’s that adjective again) as the game was circling the drain. But it was the second consecutive rocky outing following what was generally a fine appearance on Opening Day. As I’ve written here since spring training, the Royals’ bullpen has the potential to be a strength. There will be weak links that appear from time to time. At the moment, Hernández is that weak link. He’s bringing the heat, averaging above 98 mph with his fastball, but simply can’t control any of his offerings.
It’s useful to remember this is a guy who has made 22 starts in Single-A at Lexington between 2018 and ’19. That’s 115 innings above the complex levels. He battled the walks in a couple of appearances in the Appy League in 2017 and 2019, but generally pitched well for Lexington, with a 1.19 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9 and 9.8 SO/9. A rib injury in 2019 held him back and it’s not a stretch to think that were it not for the circumstances of 2020, he’d still be grinding his way up the ladder in the minors.
With the smoke and a curve that can flash plus, he has the potential to contribute to a Royals’ bullpen in the future. But today…today he’s just not ready for prime time. The Royals would be doing everyone a service if they could send him to the alternate site. Drop him at Double-A when the minor leagues open and let him continue to work as a starter. His big league future is likely out of the pen, but get him some innings now. Maybe, if everything breaks exactly right, he can return to The K in September.
Roster moves
After a rocky outing on Sunday in Chicago, it turns out that Jesse Hahn was in fact hurt with a shoulder impingement. He was placed on the 10-day IL on Monday and Jake Newberry was recalled from the alternate site to take his spot in the bullpen.
Hahn is a guy who has battled injury for what seems like his entire career. According to the Royals, he won’t throw for the next several days while waiting for the inflammation to subside. He will be evaluated later this week.
Shoulder impingements are serious business. Depending on the severity, this could be an injury that keeps Hahn on the sidelines for most of the season. Perhaps he’s been feeling this since the start. That could explain the elevated early season walk total and general ineffectiveness following his excellent 2020. At any rate, the Royals need to hope that this isn’t a severe situation and that Hahn can get back to the bullpen quickly. It’s a better relief corps with an effective Hahn out there.
Injury updates
The Royals gave a couple of other injury updates on Monday. Hunter Dozier was out of the lineup after his right thumb began bothering him again. You have to wonder about the club running him back out there after keeping him on the shelf for the first few games. He’s hitless in 15 plate appearances with two walks and just doesn’t look right at the plate.
Adalberto Mondesi is still recuperating from his oblique strain and hasn’t resumed baseball activities. The Royals are taking this slowly, and with the performance of Nicky Lopez in the early going, why not? Still, it’s a frustrating development for a player who has struggled to stay on the field with any kind of consistency.
Central issues
Cleveland 3, Chicago 4
More throws deflected by the baserunner; Sox break the tie in the ninth on a throwing error to walk it off.
Detroit 6, Houston 2
Casey Mize goes seven scoreless to lead the Tigers to victory.
Boston at Minnesota, ppd
Up next
The Royals try to stay above .500, sending Danny Duffy to the mound for his second start of 2021. He’ll face Dylan Bundy. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 tonight.