An unwelcome return to form

Seth Lugo shines, but the bats go back into cold storage as the Royals are outclassed by San Diego.

What had been a successful road trip turned sour over the weekend as the Royals were walked off in the series finale against the San Diego Padres, falling by a score of 3-2.

The familiar 2025 themes abounded in Sunday’s contest. Strong starting pitching. Weak and inopportune hitting. What did not follow the script was a bullpen that has been generally solid this season completely unraveled, with all four relievers complicit in defeat.

Public enemy number one, however, would have to be substitute Jose Iglesias. He delivered three blows to the Royals chances, each one more lethal than the next. For a guy who only had three innings on the field Sunday, he made the most of his opportunity.

Let’s begin with what was good about Sunday’s tilt and that was Seth Lugo’s fantastic start. After he allowed a leadoff single to Fernando Tatis to start the game, the righty immediately discovered—and settled into—his groove. Tatis was stranded at first after Lugo got Jackson Merrill to line out on the first pitch of the at bat, followed by whiffs of Manny Machado and Luis Arraez.

The Machado sequence was just absolutely beautiful.

Three different pitches. One location. And the movement of those three pitches…Right, left, right. This is just perfection.

Then, there was the Arraez battle. Coming into Sunday’s game, Arraez had come to the plate 307 times. He had struck out just five times. That’s a strikeout rate of just 1.6 percent. In the game of baseball in 2025 that’s just off the charts insane. Arraez is a contact unicorn.

Lugo fell behind 2-0 with a sinker and a slider well off the outer edge of the plate. After that, Lugo attacked the zone with Arraez fouling off four consecutive pitches. This was pitch seven:

That was just the 23rd time this season that Arraez has swung and missed. These are the pitches he’s whiffed on:

He just doesn’t expand the zone like that. Ever. The fact he pulled the trigger is a testament to the arsenal and the filth that Lugo comes with. As Arraez himself said, “Wow!”

From there, Lugo hit cruise control, retiring 18 batters in a row. He did not allow another baserunner until Merrill led off the seventh with a double. It was a typical Lugo pitching clinic, showcasing nine pitches.

Here’s a fun exercise: Chart Lugo’s pitches and see how often he throws the same pitch twice in a row to a batter. In Sunday’s game, he didn’t do that until he offered back-to-back changeups to Jake Cronenworth in the fifth.

That was pitch two and three of the sequence when Lugo fell behind 1-0. After he wasted a cutter, he went back to the change and got Cronenworth swinging. While it can be delightful to dazzle with an array of pitches, in this case, that’s just reading the scouting report, as Cronenworth has hit just .100 against changeups this year.

Throwing that pitch to a hitter who generally cannot touch said pitch? Unfair in the extreme.

This will never not be delightful:

When Lugo can command all nine of his pitches, he’s tough to beat. And he was looking unbeatable on Sunday.

Matt Quatraro pulled Lugo in the seventh after he got Machado to fly out with Merrill on second. The right-hander was at 90 pitches on the afternoon and was a third of the way through the Padres order for the third time on the afternoon, with back-to-back left-handed hitters due to the plate.

The bullpen did not have it.

Angel Zerpa was yanking everything to the third base batter’s box, walking two of the three batters he faced to load the bases.

Next up for a spin at the bullpen roulette wheel was Lucas Erceg. Erceg hasn’t been especially sharp since his return from the IL, where he missed time with a lower back strain. He’s allowed eight hits in 4.1 innings of work covering his last four outings. Erceg was roughed up a bit on Friday against these Padres, surrendering a couple of runs on three hits and a walk.

On Sunday, Erceg was tasked with escaping a bases-loaded jam by getting the final out of the seventh. He would face right-handed hitting Iglesias, who was announced as a pinch hitter while Zerpa was still in the game. This was a favorable matchup for the Royals as the veteran was hitting just .211/.286/.211 against right-handed pitching this year.

This was the sequence Erceg unleashed against Iglesias:

It looked as if catcher Freddy Fermin wanted the third pitch, the four-seamer, to be down and in. If anything, it was probably supposed to be a little more inside. A pitch that would either be spit on for ball one, or swung at and likely missed. Instead, it was pretty much middle-middle, a pitching sin on 0-2.

Iglesias was late, but got enough lumber on it to spray it to right. Two runs scored, and just like that, all the work Lugo had done over the previous six innings washed away.

The argument can be made that the Royals were fortunate to hold on long enough to get walked off. With the game tied at two and Erceg back on the bump for the eighth, he walked Tatis with one out. The next batter, Merrill, launched one to right field. It was destined for the seats. And then Jac Caglianone did this:

Holy home run robbery!

For a guy who is basically learning a new position in the major leagues, Caglianone has mostly looked comfortable in right. He’s obviously a great athlete with some strong instincts. The degree of difficulty on a catch like this is massive. For him to make that play is all kinds of bonkers.

After a promising start to the road trip for the offense, where the Royals powered their way to four consecutive wins, the bats reverted to form over the weekend.

After plating just one on Saturday, their only runs on Sunday came on a Salvador Perez blast. Otherwise, it was a familiar script: weak contact and squandered chances.

The best opportunity to break the game open came early. The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Kyle Isbel popped out and Jonathan India had a dreadful plate appearance chasing a pitch well off the zone to end the threat with a whiff.

Popouts were the theme of the day. The Royals hit eight infield pop flies. Eight! Over 12 percent of the balls the Royals hit in the air don’t leave the infield, which is a stupidly elevated rate. Let’s just say they did not do themselves any favors on Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team hit eight infield pops in a single game. Just horrible execution all around.

The Royals has a chance to break the tie with two outs in the ninth. Drew Waters battled and drew a walk against Padres closer Robert Suarez. Fermin was next and he laced a double to the gap in right-center. With two outs, Waters was on the move with the crack of the bat, but Merrill to Iglesias to Elias Díaz at the plate and Waters was toast.

His fate was likely sealed as he appeared to stumble around third, but it took two strong throws to cut him down. I’m completely behind the send in that situation. I’m honestly still not sure how Waters did not score. He was at second base well before the ball landed and was a step off of third as Merrill uncorked his throw from the outfield. The throw from Iglesias to home was up the third base line, which forced Waters to the outside and while he got around the tag, he also steered well wide of the plate.

Daniel Lynch IV had the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Arraez. With one out, Xander Bogaerts doubled to put runners on second and third with one out and that man, Iglesias, up next.

Do you walk Iglesias there to load the bases and take your chances with Bryce Johnson? I would. Put the pressure on the guy with nine career plate appearances. As long as you have faith your bullpen can throw strikes and not walk in the winning run. All this is moot however, as Iglesias, with the infield in, hit a grounder to Bobby Witt Jr’s left. Witt could only pivot and jump throw to home. It was a crazy-athletic play from Witt, but with the placement of the grounder, there was virtually no chance to get the out. Ballgame and series.

The final score should read Jose Iglesias 3, Kansas City 2.