Finding optimism in another loss

Another grand slam. Another comeback. Yes, it was ultimately a loss for the Royals, but there are plenty of positives to pull from last night and this recent stretch of games.

The Royals lost on Tuesday, 10-8 to the Seattle Mariners in 10 innings. In a year where the team has lost 82 out of 121 games, a loss isn’t particularly noteworthy. It probably shouldn’t even be the lede of any kind of article.

Had the Royals been playing for something, a wild card spot or a shot at the division title, this loss would’ve qualified as a square punch to the gut. Yet the fact they were even in this game, after falling behind 7-0 after four innings, the fact they pushed the Mariners to the brink, the fact they got the game to extra innings…It tells us plenty about this team as we head into the final weeks of the season.

Jordan Lyles is here because the Royals needed someone (anyone!) to pitch innings. It was not a signing of a team with intent.

When Lyles takes the ball every fifth day—which he’s done for the most part all year—expectations aren’t exactly elevated. It’s rare, but sometimes, Lyles surprises. Other times, you get a guy who grinds into the later innings while taking it on the chin. On Tuesday…Well, on Tuesday, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an inning quite like what Lyles did in the fourth.

Here is the damage done by the first four hitters in the frame:

Home run
Home run
Walk (on four pitches!)
Home run

That’s bad enough. Efficient, yet terrible. Lyles, however, wasn’t done.

Error (on Lyles!)
Wild pitch
Ground out (Yay!)
Double
Home run

Yikes! The pitch chart for the run-scoring hits is below for your perusal. If you dare.

How did Lyles finish the inning?

Strikeout
Strikeout

Of course.

Anyway, that’s seven runs Lyles spotted the Mariners. I would tend to think that for most teams in the Royals’ situation that would pretty much signal the end of the evening. Enjoy loss 82; drive home safely! I mean, what’s the point?

Except there does seem to be a point to these post-All-Star break Royals.

In the fifth, down 7-0, the Royals loaded the bases by alternating singles and outs. With that third single, they also flipped the lineup over for the third time. There’s been plenty of discussion around these Royals batters and how they’re making in-game adjustments at the plate. That’s been part of their resilience the last month. Maybe there’s something to that. Maikel Garcia kept the inning alive by punching a single to left, moving all runners up 90 feet. That brought Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate.

The Royals resurgence the last month has been powered by Witt. He’s about as locked in as one can be and he’s evolving into their superstar.

This isn’t just a hot streak. This is a put the team on his back and he’ll carry them across the line stretch. This is a coming-out party. His own debutante ball. Witt is announcing his damn presence to anyone still paying attention.

Watch baseball for any amount of time and you’ll see performances like the one Witt has turned in over the last couple of months. This one, however, feels different. Expectations for Witt have been enormous since the day the Royals called his name as the second overall pick in the draft. For him to be stepping forward, at this point in the season, becoming this kind of player…this is a momentous time for the Royals and for Witt. His importance to the club cannot be understated. He has arrived.

After the roar of Witt’s bat in the fifth, the offense fell silent. The Mariners tacked on another run to push their lead to 8-5 going into the ninth inning. It was weird though. The Royals, at this moment, should’ve been cooked. A three-run, ninth inning deficit? That’s enough.

However, things are different these days. Maybe you felt it. It would be foolish for me to state that I knew they had it in them to push. Yet my interest was piqued. I didn’t think they would go quietly.

The Mariners helped, but sometimes you just have to take what your opponents give. In this case, it was a brutal error from second baseman Josh Rojas. His poor throw was the first gift in the inning. Two walks alternating around two outs were the others.

A quick aside: How about Witt’s walk in the ninth? I don’t want to fanboy too much, but come on…The guy has already bashed a grand slam, is hotter than the surface of the sun and could tie the game with one swing of the bat. Yet he had a plan simply to get on base. He stayed within himself in that moment and drew a walk. Helluva plate appearance.

With the sacks juiced again, this time it was Michael Massey who came through with a single back up the middle. Witt is now on second and the winning run is at first in Andres Blanco, pinch-running for Massey. The table is set for the captain, Salvador Perez.

Perez, as he is prone to do, comes through with a single of his own, looped into left. Witt scores easily. And Blanco…

TOOTBLAN, for those of you who don’t know the acronym, stands for Thrown Out On The Bases Like A Nincompoop. A blundering baserunning move.

What Blanco did in attempting to advance to third was textbook TOOTBLAN. It was perhaps the most egregious one I’ve witnessed in a long time. Just on general principles on a shallow single to left, it was risky to try to get to third. With his third base coach, lying down telling him to slide, Blanco inexplicably pulled up and literally eased his way to the bag. It was the dumbest baserunning play in the worst situation imaginable. TOOTBLAN, indeed.

The tenth inning wasn’t important. The Mariners scored; the Royals didn’t. Loss 82, temporarily suspended by a ferocious comeback, is reality. And so it goes.

But watching this game, there was hope to be found. The Royals were out of it, then they weren’t. They were probably out of it again. They pushed it to extra innings. I thought they could do it. I believed.

Three of their seven wins this month have been of the walkoff variety. Walkoff wins, by definition, are dramatic. They are fun. These Royals, though, have been intent on redefining walkoff fun. These haven’t been your garden variety walkoffs. A walkoff grand slam? Done. A walkoff balk? Sure, let’s get nuts. A walkoff safety squeeze? These are the Royals.

It’s cliché and I realize I’m channeling my Inner Hudler, but these wins tell me something. The way they’ve won has required them to dig deep and overcome the faults of their pitching staff. It’s not easy, but it shows that there’s a bit of fight left in this team even though they’re careening toward triple-digits in the loss column. It’s as if the team doesn’t know what their record is and that they’re hopelessly out of contention. You certainly can’t accuse them of mailing it in.

A chunk of credit at this point has to go to Matt Quatraro and his coaching staff. As the team was losing in April, listless in May and flatlining in June, the complaints against the dugout staff were increasing. I think it was fair to wonder if Quatraro wasn’t prepared for the challenges presented by the Royals or if the team wasn’t responding to his style of leadership. Premature, for sure, but this is how it rolls. It seems clear now that whatever was going on in the clubhouse in loss after loss, the team was still dialed into Quatraro and his staff. Work was still being done. Improvements were being made.

None of this is to say the job is done. It would be foolish to draw a conclusion from thirty games in the second half of the season. Gains can be surrendered. The timetable hasn’t been accelerated. It’s promising, though. And after a rough start that included a pace for 120 losses, the Royals are showing some promise.

They’re not there yet, but baseball is fun again. Royals baseball is fun again.