Royals lose a pitcher's duel
Cole Ragans shoved. So did Freddy Peralta.
Cole Ragans did his part. So, too, did the bullpen. For the second consecutive game, the bats were a no-show. A frustrating outcome that feels familiar to past Aprils.
The Royals are now averaging just 3.8 runs per game in the early going and have an OPS+ of 84. It’s still early days of the 2025 season, so those numbers can shoot upward with a couple of big games from the offense. Likewise, imagine where those numbers would be if the Royals bats hadn’t gone big in Monday’s game.
Do you like pitcher’s duels? With both teams starting their ace, this one had the potential to be a hitter’s nightmare. It lived up to expectations.
Ragans showed why he’s the Royals’ ace. He punched out 10 Brewers in five innings of work. He recorded 19 swings and misses with 13 of those coming against his four-seamer. His slider and knuckle curve were virtually untouchable. Milwaukee took four hacks against the Ragans slider and missed on three, fouling off the other. On the knuckle curve, they took three swings against and missed twice while fouling off the other.
It was a performance that was both dominant and masterful.
My only wish is that Ragans would put hitters away with a little more urgency. He threw 97 pitches in five innings on Wednesday. I know that because he generates so much swing and miss, his pitch count is going to be elevated earlier in his starts, but I just wish that he didn’t have the kinds of innings like he had in the fourth where he struck out two but also walked a pair in throwing 28 pitches. He then required 23 pitches in the fifth while striking out one and allowing a single. That’s over half of his pitches of the day in just two innings.
I’m not going to go all old man broadcaster and extoll pitching to contact, but I just would like to see Ragans power through some of these innings with lower pitch counts.
Credit has to go where it’s due, and Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta matched Ragans and then some, going eight innings and allowing just two hits and one run while recording eight strikeouts. (See what I mean about going deeper into games?)
Peralta is a throwback in that his repertoire features a four-seamer, a changeup, a slider and a curve. All four pitches were incredibly effective, and he matched Ragans with 19 swings and misses on the afternoon. He got seven whiffs on his fastball, two on his change and three on the slider. Royals batters swung at seven Peralta curveballs…and didn’t touch one of them. Not even a damn foul ball. In the zone, out of the zone…it did not matter. That’s a lethal pitch.
After the second inning when Massey hit an automatic double and Cavan Biggio singled him home, Peralta found a groove and retired the next 19 Royals he faced.
As I wrote yesterday, it's tough to win if you don’t score.
Another year and my opinion on the Manfred Man to open extra innings on second base remains unchanged. I hate it. I don’t just hate it. I loathe it. It’s an anathema to everything that is good and right and just about the game. It’s just a dumb gimmick that upsets the rhythm of the game. I find myself losing interest the second the game enters the 10th inning.
The Royals scored their Manfred Man in the 10th when Michael Massey lined a single off the glove of first baseman Jake Bauers. Pinch runner Maikel Garcia was thrown out trying to steal before Hunter Renfroe was rung up on a pitch well out of the strike zone. Maybe umps despise the Manfred Man as much as I do. Or maybe John Tumpane just didn’t want to deny Renfroe his golden sombrero.
There was drama in the bottom of the 10th when Carlos Estévez surrendered a double that drove home Milwaukee’s Manfred Man and knotted the score up at two. Estévez then went intentional walk, balk, intentional walk to load the bases with nobody out. I’m still not sure how he survived, but he did and the game powered onward.
The Royals failed to cash in their free runner in the 11th and Brice Turang laid down a perfect safety squeeze to plate the winning run.
Central Issues
Twins 6, White Sox 1
The start of this one was delayed over three hours due to rain. Can you imagine waiting three hours at whatever they’re calling New Comiskey these days to watch the White Sox? Byron Buxton didn’t mind as he crushed a first inning home run and followed that up with a run-scoring double in the fifth. Pablo López went seven innings, striking out five.
Guardians 2, Padres 5
Break up the Padres! They swept their series with Cleveland and are now 7-0 on the season. Jackson Merrill celebrated his contract extension with a two-run home run to open the scoring. Starter Dylan Cease allowed one run over 6.1 innings while striking out seven.
Tigers 2, Mariners 3
Reigning AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal surrendered a two-run double to Victor Robles in the second and a solo home run to Dylan Moore in the fourth, which was all the scoring the Mariners needed to salvage the final game of their three-game series. Luis Castillo went seven for Seattle, striking out five.
I realize it’s only April and we’re just six games into the season, but this division is already bonkers:
The AL Central is a combined 3-14 against opponents outside the division.
I think I'd rather watch a team that loses 7-6 than one that loses 3-2 in extras. It just gets so frustrating to see my team get down by one or two and feel like the game is already over.
Craig, you and I will never agree on the Manfred Man rule, so I will cast that aside. I do have an opinion on how the home and away team should approach the Manfred Man. It's highly probable the runner from second will score. The fact that Biggio bunted the runner over to third in the 11th drove me insane. You almost have to assume to win the game you need more than one run as the visiting team. If you're the home team and the score in tied going into the bottom half of extras, it makes perfect sense to bunt. Even if Freddy drives in the runner from third on a hit with one out, you've wasted an out to get that run.