Meltdown
A six-run lead going into the eighth inning should be safe. It wasn't on Sunday.
The task, in baseball terms, was simple. Record six outs. Really that was it.
The Royals, leading 6-0 as the game swung to the top of the eighth inning, needed their bullpen to cobble together six outs while preventing the Twins from scoring…let’s check on this…Seven?…Yes!…seven runs.
They failed.
The agonizing thing about blowing a late, six-run lead is how long it takes. It’s not as if there’s some sort of hammer blow, a seven-run dinger or something. It’s a slow drip of pain. Single. Single. Single. Single. An error. A sacrifice fly. A two-run home run. The Twins inflicted this damage against three Royals relievers who needed 58 pitches to record three outs.
That was just the eighth inning.
By the time the ninth rolled around, I could feel no more pain. The fates had been written. The only unknown was how the death knell would sound.
Walk. Double. Sacrifice fly. Wild pitch. Walk. Single.
See? A collapse in baseball is never really dramatic. Just a steady dose of morphine that eventually numbs your entire body.
The other thing about these kinds of losses is it tends to obscure performances that merit a positive response. A team just doesn’t magically take a 6-0 lead after seven innings. Someone did some work.
Like Brady Singer. This was his second turn in the rotation since coming back from Triple-A exile with the task he build up for starts. He also focused on the changeup, that elusive offering that will be required for him to find success as a starter in the majors. He threw 16 of them on Sunday. While he only got one swing and miss, didn’t get a single called strike on one, and four Twins put the pitch in play, it was still a great pitch. Why? Because it’s different.
Singer going to the mound with only two pitches isn’t going out there with a plan for success. He needs that third pitch, even if it’s not consistently in the zone because it’s something for hitters to think about. They can’t just sit slider or sinker. They need to game plan for the change.
For Singer, the change comes in a couple of MPH faster than the slider on average. While the slider has some downward bite, the change features a little arm-side run. He features it almost exclusively to left-handed batters and the pitch, when it’s working, sort of fades away.
The slider doesn’t move as much on the horizontal plane, but it drifts in the other direction. It features more drop.
Both pitches feature below-average movement, but they play off each other, making it difficult for hitters to square either one up.
There has to be an increase in his confidence in the pitch. He threw the change 16 times in his first start, which was the most he’d thrown it in an outing in his major league career. He followed that up, as noted above, he threw 16 in Sunday’s start.
Singer wobbled a bit with his control in the sixth when he walked two Twins. He also allowed back-to-back singles to open the game. He escaped both jams unscathed. Here’s the fun bit…both times it was the change that got him out of the soup. He enticed Max Kepler to roll into a first inning double play on a change and again got Kepler in the sixth to ground into a bases-loaded force out at home. Like nearly everyone has been saying…that third pitch is so key for Singer.
It was another masterful performance.
While both starts have been overwhelmingly positive for Singer, I remain a skeptic. For now. We’ve seen this before where he’s jumped on the change as that third pitch and thrown with confidence only for it to unravel. I think it was extremely encouraging that he followed up his first great start with another on Sunday. That he relied on the change and wriggled out of a couple of jams in both appearances was likewise a reason to buy. I very much like where this is going. I just need to see a little more before I go all-in.
Singer has now made 44 starts in his major league career. Eight of them have come with a Game Score of 63 or higher. Both his starts this year fall into that category.
You’ll also note back-to-back starts from April 2021…Which come off a string of starts from September 2020. That’s why I’m a bit skeptical. He’s had a stretch like this before. I just need to see more. Again…I don’t want this to read like I’m not enthusiastic about this. It sure feels like he’s become a different pitcher. There is promise in both process and results. This is a very positive development.
You have to tip your cap (sort of) to the Royals’ offense. At least once they got into the Twins bullpen. Or at least once they faced Yennier Cano. I mean, that was really the only time they were able to do anything. But it was still good to see! It’s always entertaining—and highly unexpected–when the Royals bat around in an inning.
That’s it for your Monday positivity…A great start from Singer and a sixth inning offensive explosion. If you decide not to read on any further, I understand. That way you can pretend the Royals won, 6-0.
How do I know the Royals aren’t good? Almost every team they play is better. Just take a look at this month.
The Yankees? Better. Although they’re better than everyone.
The Cardinals? Better. Sigh.
The Orioles? Better. Yes, really.
The Rangers? Better. I know.
The White Sox? Better. And their fanbase is still unhinged.
The Twins? Better. By miles.
Add it up and you have seven wins against 14 defeats in May. This follows seven wins on 12 losses in April. Their -56 run differential is the worst in the American League. They’ve lost 1-0 (twice!), 17-3 and now they’ve coughed up a six-run, eighth-inning lead.
The only team in the majors with fewer wins is the Cincinnati Reds and as I’ve written before, that club is the standard in 2022 for futility. If you’re being name-checked with the Reds, you’re not well.
The Royals are on pace for 105 losses.
Can you think of anyone who had a worse week than Dayton Moore? On Monday, he was part of the front office that fired the hitting coach while ignoring similar issues of underperformance on the pitching side. Moore went so far as to defend the current pitching coach and then decided to shoulder the blame for any issues the pitchers may have. His club then won twice in eight home games, a stretch capped off by a bullpen that coughed up a six-run lead over the final two innings.
But, hey…Cal Eldred clearly gets credit for Brady Singer going to Triple-A to find a changeup that he now has confidence in!
I don’t have the energy to break down what happened in the eighth and ninth and honestly…you don’t want to read about it. It sucked. Full stop. I don’t understand why Taylor Clarke grooved two fastballs and then abandoned the pitch entirely for sliders that sat in the middle third of the zone. I don’t know where Scott Barlow’s slider command went. I haven’t got a clue as to why Josh Staumont was asked by Mike Matheny to deliver 33 pitches when every single one felt like a chore.
Do you hang this on Matheny? Or Eldred? Or just a general overworked bullpen? Hell, that could be traced back to Matheny or Eldred. I don’t know where to point the finger—I only have 10 of them—but I do know that if you’re looking to assign blame there are no wrong answers.
The Royals are at a crossroads, but whatever paths they have before them feel like they’re dead ends. Fans want action. Fine. However, you have to think Moore isn’t on the chopping block and he’s not going to be fired. He was just bumped up to team president a few months ago. Same for JJ Picollo who apparently was the guy who sounded the alarm about the team hitting that resulted in the action at the start of last week. They’ve been around forever and, recently promoted, they remain secure in their positions.
Matheny? This has been his worst season of the three he’s been in Kansas City, but he’s not going anywhere either. Besides, if Moore and Picollo aren’t in danger, do you want them reshuffling the managerial deck chairs? If you’re thirsty for a firing, this isn’t going to satisfy you but unless Matheny has completely lost the clubhouse, it seems kind of pointless to jettison the skipper. Eldred? Maybe you’re on to something, but this crew doesn’t seem the type to wack another coach so close to the last one. Panic move, bro. And as many of you pointed out after the Bradshaw firing, there isn’t an obvious in-house candidate to replace Eldred the way Alec Zumwalt was.
Frustration is boiling over. The Royals should be better than they’ve shown. I’m not talking contention or even a .500 record. Just better.
Sunday was just one game, but it can be seen as a symptom of a much larger problem. Five years into a rebuild that comes two years after an attempt to keep the team together to stay relevant, patience and the benefit of the doubt have all but evaporated. The Royals, it seems, cannot be trusted to properly diagnose and treat those symptoms.
At least the kids look good.