We've got those first inning blues

The Royals' first attempt at an opener this season ends in failure. Another early deficit. Another defeat at the hands of the Evil Empire.

This has been a most unpleasant week of baseball in Kansas City. The Royals lost their third in a row to the Yankees by the score of 11-5, another defeat in blowout fashion.

The Royals have now lost four in a row for the first time this season.

Still, and this may sound completely insane, the Royals have a chance to salvage something on Thursday afternoon. Manage to grab a win and they finish the homestand 3-4. Add to that number the split against Cleveland that opened this two week gauntlet of games against first place teams and that would give the Royals a 4-5 record with three of the four series complete. Yeah, I’m getting ahead of myself—especially given how the first three games of the Yankees series have gone—but there’s still a way the Royals come out of this not looking absolutely awful.

No pressure, Alec Marsh.

Sigh. Once again, this one got away almost immediately. Opener Dan Altavilla’s job was to get through the first. Maybe pitch into the second. He recorded one out.

Single, walk, single, strikeout (yay!), single, walk and his time on the mound was mercifully over. Altavilla threw 27 pitches, 13 of them for strikes. If you’re going to act as The Opener, you have to throw strikes. Bottom line. Failure to do so derails the whole idea behind using an opener.

When Altavilla crashes out, that bumps up Daniel Lynch IV. Lynch has really struggled in the first inning in his handful of starts this year. It’s something that’s kind of dogged him throughout his career. Overall, he hasn’t been very good at the major league level, but he’s had quite a difficult time in the first. For his career, Lynch owns a 5.28 ERA overall. In the first inning, it’s an 8.61 ERA.

As we had seen in the first two games of this series, the Yankees lineup is thick with danger. Especially the top half. Fine. It makes sense to use an opener on the day Lynch is supposed to take the baseball. For a moment, it looked like the Royals could get out of the inning with minimal damage.

Let me rewind myself a bit. Lynch IV entered the game in relief of Altavilla with the bases loaded and two runs already in. That’s not ideal for the bulk guy who’s been primarily a starter throughout his career. I’m not sure I understand bringing him in in the middle of an inning with the bases juiced. It’s not normal territory for Lynch IV. (Speaking more about coming into the game in the middle of an inning, not having the bases loaded.)

As I said, it looked for a moment like Lynch could escape. He gave up a sacrifice fly to the first batter to record the second out of the inning. That’s a decent result. He then fell behind Jose Trevino 3-0. He fired a high fastball for a strike. Then he grooved another fastball that Trevino crushed. And just like that it was 6-0.

If these first inning blues are getting you down, I don’t blame you. Over their six games on this homestand, the Royals have allowed 19 runs in the first. And in all six of those games, they’ve fallen behind in the first inning.

We know these Royals are resilient, but this is pushing that narrative a bit too far.

With yet another early deficit, the role that Lynch IV was asked to perform immediately changed. His job after the first was to survive long enough to save the bullpen from being chewed up. I guess credit to him that he pitched through the seventh, meaning Quatraro needed to use only two relievers to see out the game.

Lynch IV looked good in the second, third and fourth innings. Again, if we’re going by splits, this is generally where the lefty finds most of his success. However, in his case, success is a relative term. He gave up a couple more home runs, which will happen against these Yankees. Ultimately they tagged him for six runs.

I believe that earlier this season I wrote about what looked like depth the Royals had at their disposal for the rotation. I would like to retract that comment. They’re going to need Michael Wacha back as soon as possible to help steady the starting five. And they’re going to need Kris Bubic to wrap up his rehab in a manner where he can get back to the big league staff quickly.

Central Issues

Rockies 9, Twins 17

Apparently, Coors Field was relocated to Minneapolis. To sum this game up, every Twins starter scored a run. Every Twins starter drove in a run. And every Twins starter except for Byron Burton had at least two hits.

Nationals 7, Tigers 5

CJ Abrams hit a double and his 11th home run of the season as the Nats battered Detroit starter Reece Olson, dinging him for five runs in just over five innings. The Tigers made things interesting in the eighth, pushing across three runs to cut the Washington lead to one, but the Nationals picked up a pair of insurance runs against Will Vest.

Guardians 2, Reds 4

Starter Tanner Bibbee looked good through five innings for the Guardians. Then two singles and a Jeimer Candelario three-run home run put a stop to the good vibes in the sixth. Reader Tony let me know yesterday that the Ohio Cup is truly a thing. With the Reds victory, the series is even at a game apiece. They’ll settle this thing in September.

White Sox 1, Mariners 2 - 10 innings

Luis Robert Jr. tied the game for the Hapless White Sox with a ninth inning home run. The Mariners scored their Manfred Man in the bottom of the 10th to walk off the Sox for the second time in their series. Chicago has lost 22 of their last 25.

With a day game Thursday and honestly, not much to write about, today’s newsletter is brief. Maybe we’ll have a victory to discuss tomorrow?