Finding a way

The Royals hung around long enough to pour it on late in taking the series from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Sometimes, it sure feels like it can be lucky to get out of town with a victory. Those were the vibes on Sunday, as the Royals grabbed a 7-4, extra innings win in the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It wasn’t this way through the first nine innings, but in the aftermath of this game, we can say the Royals offense stays hot, scoring seven or more runs now in 8 of the 15 games they’ve played since the All-Star Break. With Sunday’s victory, the Royals have now won nine of their last 13. Since the first of July, the Royals are 17-10, a .630 winning percentage.

Sunday’s victory came together thanks to a less-than-stellar Seth Lugo hanging in there for as long as he could, a defense that worked behind Lugo and the bullpen to limit further damage, and a 10th inning that took advantage of Toronto mistakes.

It all came together just in time.

I’m sure there were some people worried about the pitch clock when that was implemented and how it would affect the rhythms of the game. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rule change that has the potential to disrupt the equilibrium of the game quite like the Manfred Man getting plopped on second base to start an extra inning.

Sunday’s ballgame was a fairly pedestrian affair for nine innings. Some good defense. Some timely hits. Some drama. Then, once we hit the 10th inning, all hell broke loose. Sometimes, though, a little hell is a good thing.

With Randal Grichuk on second as the Royals Manfred Man, Kyle Isbel was the first man up. Who here thought he was going to bunt? I certainly did. The Blue Jays did too, playing short at the corners. Isbel had different thoughts. He yanked a first pitch fastball on the inner half down the first base line for an easy run-scoring double. One pitch and the Royals had their first lead of the afternoon. Thank you very much, Mr. Commissioner.

Isbel’s hit had an official launch angle of -1 degree and left the bat with an exit velocity of 75 mph.

I’d hazard a guess that if Blue Jays first baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had been playing normal depth and not in and looking for a bunt, he would have picked that grounder and Toronto records an out at first. It would’ve been a productive out, but a double is so much better.

How great was that, though? One pitch and the runner on second scores and is replaced by another runner on second, and the Royals have their first lead of the game. Then, Jonathan India is drilled on an 0-2 pitch. Seriously, that guy is a walking bruise at this point. He’s one of those cartoon characters where a piano falls on him while he’s walking down the sidewalk. After that, Bobby Witt Jr. accepts a free pass and the bases are loaded.

Normally, that would be Vinnie Pasquantino time. Instead, it was Tyler Tolbert.

Except Pasquantino was lifted from the game for a pinch runner in the eighth inning. With two outs. When he was on first base after hitting a single that tied the game.

What?

I understand there is a segment of this fanbase who thinks Matt Quatraro overmanages in situations. I’ve never really thought that. He plays percentages and makes moves with a purpose. Normally, it’s easy to see—and understand—the process, even if the results don’t work out in the Royals favor.

Having said that, I have absolutely zero idea why he would lift Pasquantino in that situation. Late innings. Tie game. Two outs. He’s on first. I get the thinking that you want a burner on first who could give you the lead if the next batter, Maikel Garcia, laced one to the gap. Still…The odds have to say that it’s highly likely that if the score remains the same, his spot would come up in a key situation in the 10th inning. And would you look at that.

Thankfully, Tolbert came through. His single over the drawn-in infield to right-center drove in two and moved Witt to third. Insurance! Then, with Garcia up, Tolbert broke for second on the first pitch. Toronto Catcher Alejandro Kirk decided to throw to third to see if he could catch Witt wandering off the bag. Instead, he fired the ball wildly into left. Witt scored and Tolbert went to third. And then two pitches later, Garcia cashed in the Royals fifth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.

The Royals scored five runs in the 10th inning on two hits. Thank you very much.

You figure with a five-run, 10th inning lead, that the Royals would have the game locked up. Ha! Ignore the Manfred Man at your own risk. The bottom of the 10th wasn’t a cakewalk. Closer Carlos Estévez gave up a leadoff single that plated said Manfred Man. After recording the next two outs, Estévez lost the strike zone against Bo Bichette and walked him. Addison Barger followed with a single to plate a run.

And just like that, Kirk was up representing the tying run.

It can’t be comfortable, because where’s the fun in that. We need the tension. You don’t need your fingernails.

We don’t need ulcers, though. Kirk grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game and give the Royals the series.

It was one of those “gonna have to grind it out” games from starter Seth Lugo. Lugo opened the second inning by walking leadoff man Bo Bichette. It was on four pitches that were not even in the same postal code.

Lugo, like most pitchers, works up in the zone with the four-seamer. Against Bichette in their first confrontation of the day, Lugo was clearly trying to keep the fastball down. Maybe this was part of the game plan against Bichette. He’s hitting just .231 against low four-seamers this season with a whiff on over a quarter of all swings. He has yet to barrel a low, four-seam fastball this year.

But Lugo momentarily lost command and walked Bichette on four pitches.

He nearly got out of the inning with no damage, but with two outs, against Daulton Varsho, he once again lost his command.

With runners on first and second and two out, Ernie Clement hit an infield single that loaded the bases. Then, ninth-place hitter, Myles Straw lined a single to left. That scored the lead runner, Varsho. John Rave came up throwing home.

From there…chaos. Varsho, who is generally a good baserunner, slammed on the brakes at third. That caused Clement to get hung up in a bit of a no man’s land between second and third. Salvador Perez fielded the throw from Rave and shot a laser to second, behind Clement. Better to just let the visuals take this one.

As the throw comes in from Rave, Perez knows two things: 1) The runner at third has stopped, and 2) the runner at second has gone too far off the base, thinking the runner at third was going to continue going to home.

It’s a strong throw from Rave, a little up the first base line, but this is where Perez receives the ball. In front of the dirt around home plate. This allows him to make a quick, strong throw to second.

Frazier, likewise, knows the runner between second and third is frozen. He also sees Varsho wander toward home. Should Clement get caught in a rundown, Varsho is going for it.

Frazier runs toward third. Clement at this point is probably a goner, but there’s still a chance he can get in that rundown and hold up play for Varsho to get closer to home. Look where Frazier is focusing. Not on Clement, but on Varsho off the bag at third.

Because Frazier ran with the ball, the Jays now have two runners in no man’s land between two different bases. As Varsho moves further down the line, Frazier decides to take no chances and focus on the lead runner. He peels off toward home.

With the ball in his bare hand, just like you’re supposed to do in a rundown.

As Frazier closes in on Varsho, he flips the ball to Perez.

I’m not sure how Perez missed the tag once this happened, but not a big deal. Varsho was done. The Royals and Lugo were out of the inning with minimal damage.

Big credit on that play goes to Rave, who threw a seed to the plate that was easy for Perez to handle. Also to Perez for unloading to second once he realized there wasn’t going to be a play at the plate. And then to Frazier for holding on to the baseball for an eternity before trapping Varsho to the point where the third out was an easy one.

I love good fundamental baseball.

Lugo walked another batter with two outs in the fourth and then gave a free pass to the leadoff batter in the fifth. After allowing more than three walks only once in his first 19 starts this season, he’s now done it in each of his last two outings.

The righty almost worked around the walk in the fifth, but, as was typical of his day, just suddenly lost command against Joey Loperfido.

It’s kind of amazing that Loperfido didn’t walk. He fell behind 0-2 on a couple of curves, laid off the next two pitches that were well off the plate, and then went into protect mode on a high cutter and a low curve to stay alive. He passed on another cutter and then found a middle-middle sweeper he was able to rip. With one swing, Loperfido knocked the ball to center and knocked Lugo out of the game.

This was yet another subpar performance from Lugo, yet he still found a way to keep his team in the game. With a little help from his teammates.

According to Statcast, John Rave is -2 Outs Above Average when playing a ball that was hit to his left. He might see that number increase a bit after that diving catch he made with one out in the fourth inning. That’s a quality route and some premium extension. Anything to keep runners off the bases surely helped on the afternoon.

And after Lugo exited the game, Bobby Witt Jr. did his thing on a couple of defensive plays, including snagging a hot liner off the bat of Alejandro Kirk that had an xBA of .790. All as usual.

The point is, the bats are showing up, the defense is on point and the pitching is doing enough to get the job done. It’s probably too much to ask for all three to be working the “A” game at the exact same time, but in this post-All-Star Break stretch, we’re seeing some of the best Royals baseball of the season.

Central Issues

Twins 5, Guardians 4

Minnesota salvaged a win in their first series after taking a flamethrower to their roster. José Ramírez hit a home run in the losing effort. I mention him because he’s the only name I recognize for either team. Just kidding! Steven Kwan played.

Tigers 0, Phillies 2

Newcomer Charlie Morton pitched well for the Tigers, limiting the Phillies to four hits and one run over six innings while striking out six. Cristopher Sánchez was even better, holding Detroit scoreless over eight while allowing five hits. Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run in the eighth and Jhoan Duran shut down the ninth for the save. The Tigers are 12-16 since the start of July.

White Sox 5, Angels 8

Chicago led this game 5-0. Zach Neto homered and doubled to help draw his team level in the later innings. Taylor Ward walked it off for the Halos with a three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth.

The Royals still have work to do in the Wild Card race, but things are getting a little tight.

The Royals playoff odds stand at 14 percent, according to FanGraphs.

Up Next

The Royals head to Boston to continue their road trip. The new guys, Bailey Falter and Ryan Bergert will make their Royals debuts as they will match up against the Red Sox top two starters.

Mon at BOS - LHP Bailey Falter (7-5, 3.73) vs. RHP Brayan Bello (7-5, 3.19) at 6:10 p.m.
Tue at BOS - RHP Ryan Bergert (1-0, 2.78) vs. Garrett Crochet (12-4, 2.23) at 6:10 p.m.
Wed at BOS - RHP Michael Wacha (5-9, 3.38) vs. Dustin May (6-7, 4.85) at 6:10 p.m.

The Royals did well against the Jays, who are leading the AL East. Now they get the opportunity to test themselves against the top team in the hunt for the AL Wild Card. Taking another series would be a nice statement of intent.