Lorenzen and the Royals take care of business and shut down the Angels

Michael Lorenzen and the bullpen shutdown and shutout the Angels.

The Royals had to take care of some business. That meant they had to deal with the Los Angeles Angels, a team that has largely been searching for relevance since being swept by the Royals in their three-game Divisional Series 10 years ago. The Royals took two of three, culminating with Wednesday’s 3-0 victory.

It was their sixth shutout victory of the season. The Royals are now 19-11 since the All-Star Break, the best record in the AL.

Now, things are about to get real for these Royals, a 20 game stretch that will define their 2024 season. Seventeen of those games are with teams currently in first in their respective divisions. The remaining three are against those damn Minnesota Twins.

Yes, these next three weeks will be the ultimate gut check.

This wasn’t the first time Johnny Cueto took the mound at Kauffman Stadium since his 2015 World Series Game Two masterpiece, but it was probably the last time. That’s why it was so nice to see the crowd rise to salute the shimmying right-hander as he walked off the mound after being removed from the game in the seventh inning. And it was equally nice to see Cueto smile and acknowledge the ovation.

That’s a connection that will never be unbroken. Cueto pitched 81 innings in a Royals jersey, plus 25 more in the postseason. A short tenure, but one that will never be forgotten. Don’t think that moment was lost on the guys in the home dugout. They’ve had to live in the shadow of the pennant winners of 2014 and 2015. Legacies loom large when the results go south, especially for an extended period of time. Yet they are a mere 35 games away from entering that postseason nirvana and making their own mark on this franchise and this city.

It was fun to see Cueto back on the bump. It wasn’t as fun to watch him walk that tightrope and ultimately stymie Royal hitters. It seemed as though they could chase him early when the Royals strung together one of their two-out rallies. Single, single and walk loaded the bases for the number nine hitter, Kyle Isbel. Isbel went down on a low first-pitch slider (after a pitch clock violation to set the count to 1-0) and laced it into the right-center gap. Two runs scored and the lineup flipped with runners on second and third. A pivotal moment to be sure.

Yet there was Cueto, wriggling out of a jam. The Royals hit 12 balls against Cueto which left the bat traveling greater than 100 MPH. Yet they could only scratch together three runs on the night. The dude is 38 years old and still grinding. Respect.

This year’s starting pitching acquisition at the trade deadline was Michael Lorenzen. It’s not a fair comparison, Lorenzen and Cueto, but I have to admit it was something that came to mind when the Royals made the deal. Cueto was brought to Kansas City to front the rotation down the stretch and into October. Lorenzen is here to provide some innings to take the pressure off an already successful starting rotation.

Through four starts and 22.2 innings, Lorenzen has exceeded expectations. After Wednesday’s game, Lorenzen owns a 1.99 ERA for the Royals. He’s walked nine and punched out 16.

As Lance Brozdowski pointed out in his Substack, the Royals have unlocked the inner beast in Lorenzen. For starters, they’ve had him scrap the slider he was throwing to right-handed batters. Righties were hitting a robust .400 with a .686 slugging percentage on his slider. Yet he was throwing it almost 20 percent of the time. Since he’s joined the Royals, he’s thrown exactly one to a right-handed hitter—a spiked first-pitch to Jo Adell in the fourth inning on Wednesday.

Instead, he's leaned on a sweeper. Brozdowski called the Lorenzen slider a “downer slider” because it has a downward break about three inches more than the average slider. The sweeper is a firmer offering, with less downward break but a pitch that has almost 11 more inches of run than his slider. Since joining the Royals, right-handed hitters have hit just .182 against the Lorenzen sweeper with a .273 slugging percentage. Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you. And sometimes (ahem, Rangers) you miss it.

Lorenzen recorded four misses on six swings against his sweeper on the night. This was one of them.

I’ve clipped a lot of pitches over the last couple of years for this publication. I’m not sure I’ve grabbed one that looks so...ordinary? It was actually coming in with less horizontal break than of late on Wednesday, but it was still very clearly an effective offering. Especially when paired with his sinker.

Lorenzen hit his stride in the middle innings. In each of the first three frames, the Angels put two runners on base. He was able to get out of each one unscathed.

From that moment when a runner was on third with one out though, Lorenzen set down 12 consecutive batters. After the game manager Matt Quatraro expanded a bit on Lorenzen’s approach, about how he tries to live on the edge and that, at times, he’ll miss. The margin for error is obviously greater. Starting late in that third inning and going forward, Lorenzen was more intent on attacking the strike zone.

This was Lorenzen’s pitch chart for the third inning.

Elevated everything and while he was able to hit the arm side edge of the plate, those did come in the latter portion of the frame. Otherwises, he wasn’t really hitting his location.

Contrast that to the chart from the fourth:

The four-seamers that looked like they were off the glove-side were called strikes. Generous, but take it if you can get it. The change-ups were swung at and missed or put in play. The key there was a 10 MPH separation from the fastball to changeup. It’s a premium pitch for Lorenzen, the change. It was working for him in those middle innings on Wednesday.

The Angels had six right-handed hitters in their lineup on Wednesday and on this particular night, needing to secure six outs, Quatraro turned to right-handed slinger John Schreiber to lock down three of those outs. Personally, it can be a bit of a grind watching Schreiber pitch. Sam Long with his reverse platoon splits would’ve been an option. Long last pitched on Sunday. But the Royals also rely on data for the matchups and they clearly want to get Schreiber back in the mix after missing time with a knee injury. He earned the save on Monday in his first game since coming off the IL, throwing just eight pitches. He needed a few more on Wednesday, but still got the job done.

The save situation went to Lucas Erceg. I have no problem with that.

After getting a pair of four-seamers called for strikes at the lower edge of the zone, Erceg elevates a 99 MPH offering off the plate. Devistating.

Central Issues

Twins 11, Padres 4

Minnesota put seven runs on the board in the fourth with most of the damage coming on a two-run double from Austin Martin and a three-run bomb from Matt Wallner. More than enough support for Simeon Woods Richardson who went five innings, allowing just one run as the Twins avoid the sweep.

Guardians 1, Yankees 8

Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. Soto homered and doubled, driving in five. Judge homered twice, driving in three. I think if they combine for this sort of destruction, the seven other guys in the lineup can remain irrelevant.

Tigers 8, Cubs 2

Trey Sweeney, Riley Greene and Christian Bethancourt all hit two-run homers.

White Sox 6, Giants 2

How do you know your season is over? For the Giants it was probably when the Sox scored four in the ninth to break a 2-2 tie. Reliever Erik Miller was on the hook for the runs, but his defense also didn’t help him out. Chicago won for the 31st time this year.

When I clip the Wild Card standings, I use .500 as my arbitrary cutoff. So I’ve noticed the Rays interjecting themselves back in the proceedings. Not sure what to make of that. The Mariners are in danger of their season slipping away after getting swept by the Dodgers.

And I’m not sure why the Royals are listed ahead of the Twins in the standings if the Twins own the tiebreaker. I blame Rob Manfred.

At any rate the Royals (and the Astros) are the hottest teams in the league at the moment. Relax and enjoy your off-day Thursday. Things are going to get intense starting on Friday.