The boys are finally back to playin' some ball

Seth Lugo shoves. Tommy Pham comes through in the clutch. And the bullpen closes out the first win in a week. See how easy that was?

It’s about time, but we finally—finally!—got a 2024 vintage Royals game to enjoy on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium. It had been a hot second. A week, actually, since we saw Royals Baseball from this team.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Despite what some would tell you, this team is too good to stay down for long. We have five months of baseball in the rearview mirror. Fluky baseball teams do not get to this position, this deep into the season. The waiting was excruciating, though. Seven games, fellas? Unnecessary.

The losing streak was snapped because their ace starting pitcher showed up as the stopper. The new guys acquired at the trade deadline and at the end of last week off the waiver wire all pitched in. It was good. A 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians allowed the city to release a primal scream into a beautiful late summer Kansas City night.

When was the moment you knew the Royals would come out of this game with a win. Perhaps it was as early as the game’s second pitch.

Due to his back issues, Michael Massey has logged about half the number of innings at second base as he had in 2023. That’s too bad because his defense can be a thing of beauty. According to Baseball Savant, last year Massey was worth 2 Fielding Run Value and 3 Outs Above Average at second base. That’s not elite by any stretch, but it’s highly respectable. This season, Massey has a 1 Fielding Run Value and a 1 OAA. That’s about what you would expect, given the amount of playing time he’s had at the keystone.

This is one of those baseball plays broadcasters like to say “sets the tone” for the game ahead. A tough play against a speedy runner and Massey got him by half a step. (I love how the umpire holds his call as if he’s thinking about it. Drama!) The Royals have desperately needed the tone to be set over this abysmal last week of baseball. Ideally, it would be on the offensive side, but they can’t exactly be choosy at this moment.

Also, I’ve missed watching Massey at second on the regular. His play there last season was one of the highlights of 2023 for me. Especially when he would team up with Bobby Witt Jr. to turn a double play. Oh! Like this:

The Royals turned three double plays on the night. Two of them were started by Massey and went 6-4-3. Watching Massey and Witt turn two is just beautiful. There’s poetry in the middle infield.

Maybe the moment you knew the Royals would win was provided by The Captain.

With two outs in the third, immediately after the Guardians scored a run in the top half of their inning, which frankly, kind of felt insurmountable, Salvador Perez laced a ball down the left field line. Just fair, Perez was hauling around first, desperately trying to get to second with a double. I’m not sure I’ve seen him wheel quite like that.

The throw from Kwan in left was strong but to the center field side of the bag. It beat Perez to the bag. The play was going to be close. But The Captain would not be denied.

That’s some kind of swim move from a 34-year-old catcher. And it’s a statement that even while the offense has been scuffling, there’s no reason not to go all-out. If Perez can leg out a double with a deke of a slide at the end, it’s time to put this losing streak to bed.

I’ll cop to thinking that was the moment. I figured if the next batter, MJ Melendez, followed with a run-scoring hit, the Royals would be unstoppable for the rest of the night. Melendez actually battled through a tough nine-pitch at bat. He fell behind 0-2, fouled off three tough pitches and worked the count to 3-2. Credit to Guardians pitcher Ben Lively who made a fantastic pitch, a fastball down and away but clearly in the zone. Melendez got under it and flew out to end the inning.

Would the breakthrough ever come?

We only had to wait one more inning. Paul DeJong, mired in a slump that has seen him strike out in over half his plate appearances during this damn losing streak, hit a dribbler down the third base line. At just 62 MPH off the bat, it had an xBA of just .180. José Ramírez fielded the ball but had no chance and wisely put the ball in his pocket. A single.

Closer…

The next batter, Robbie Grossman, appearing in his first game for the Royals since his waiver claim last week, turned on an inside fastball for a single, moving DeJong to second. You’ll recall from my post on the weekend that the switch-hitting Grossman performs much better against left-handed pitching. I’m assuming Matt Quatraro had him in the lineup against the right-handed Lively because it had been a while since the Royals had faced a lefty starter. Plus, with the Twins coming to town next, they will start three consecutive righties. That Grossman, after sitting for a few games, had a walk in his first plate appearance and then that single was a minor miracle. He’s hitting just .172/.277/.207 against right-handed pitching this year.

Closer…

That brought Massey to the plate with runners on first and second. He scalded a 1-1 fastball back up the middle and into centerfield. DeJong came around to score as Grossman pulled into second. A run!

It was a fine moment, to be sure, to see this team knock three consecutive singles. The offense has stirred like this from time to time during this streak. The Royals did this to open the frame. They needed to parlay this into something larger. They could not be satisfied with just a single run. Not when they put the first three batters of the inning on base.

For a moment though, it looked like the opportunity would be wasted. Freddy Fermin hit a soft liner to short. Kyle Isbel fouled out to third. Neither at bat was inspiring. It looked as though Lively would be getting out of the inning without further damage.

Tommy Pham had other thoughts.

Pham watched two sliders from Lively well off the plate. With an 0-2 count, Pham knew he would be challenged by Lively. Talking to Joel Goldberg on the field after the game, Pham went through what he was thinking.

“It’s two outs…I know that they really don’t want Bobby up in that situation. They’re going to come right after me so the main objective there was to get on base.”

The next pitch was a fastball right in his kitchen. Pham did not miss.

After the game Pham talked like he hadn’t been doing much to help his new team. I will point out that the guy has been scorching the baseball since coming over in that waiver claim. In the four games he’s played with the Royals, Pham’s average exit velocity is 98.6 MPH. That’s his average. It’s 14 balls in play, so small sample size that all you want, but I’ll point out that you don’t average 98.6 MPH unless you’re consistently hammering the baseball.

This is Pham’s spray chart on those balls in play.

Plenty of ground balls to short, but I’m seeing balls hit up the middle. If he can elevate like he did on that 2-0 pitch against Lively, he’s about to go on a run. And if the Royals are going to continue to hit him at leadoff, that will provide a much-welcome spark to this lineup.

The Royals scored four runs in the fourth. Four runs! It was an outburst the likes of which we haven’t seen in a week. It felt like they scored a thousand.

I’ve written well over 1,000 words to this point (thanks for reading this far!) and haven’t so much as mentioned starter Seth Lugo. It’s possible I’m taking his starts for granted. I hope not. I don’t think I am, really. Lugo starts are the best starts. I truly look forward to watching the guy work every fifth day.

We got the full Lugo on Wednesday. A high spin rate curve that got some nice swing and miss. A sinker with enough run that hitters can’t square it up. A slider that is generally exquisitely placed in the lower regions of the zone. A four-seamer that is thrown for strikes. A cutter, a slurve, a sweeper and a splitter, just for funsies.

It’s damn near impossible to break a Lugo start down in one of these posts. Each start is worthy of a 10,000-word missive. I think we just that “hang it in the Louvre” a bit too much these days, but I am truly considering printing one of these out and posting it somewhere in the house.

It’s mesmerizing.

Lugo gave the Royals seven strong innings. He allowed six hits and just one walk while striking out four. He’s now put up back-to-back starts where he’s gone seven innings with just one run against him. He’s doing his bit to help this team break out of the doldrums.

It’s a different feeling when the bullpen just has to get six outs. Kris Bubic was sharp, striking out three in the eighth. Lucas Erceg looked like he was back to being the Lucas Erceg we’ve seen since coming to Kansas City. Ballgame. Just like they drew it up in the clubhouse.

And more good news: The Twins and Red Sox both lost. The resurgent Tigers lost in extras in San Diego. The Royals’ magic number to make the postseason is now 19.

It’s good to be back in the win column. It’s even better to have a 5.5-game lead with 21 games to go. I’m starting to think 82 wins gets a team in the postseason.

The Royals have a much-needed day off on Thursday before they’re back in action against those Twins on Friday. This weekend will probably decide second place in the AL Central. And fifth place in the Wild Card seedings. Let’s go.