Sliding away
The Royals lose again as the offense is running on fumes. But Adalberto Mondesi is back!
Another day, another loss…Another feeble attempt from the offense.
Do you remember those heady April days, when the Royals punished the Tigers, sweeping a four-game series from them in Detroit? That’s what good teams were supposed to do against bad teams. (At the time, the Royals were “good” and the Tigers were “bad.)
Since then, the Royals have lost six of eight against the Tigers. The overall record versus Detroit stands at 6-6. When facing the Tigers, the Royals have plated 48 runs and allowed 49. It’s all square.
So if the Tigers are still “bad” what does that make the Royals?
Don’t answer that!
It’s another five-game losing streak, the second time they’ve done that this month. As I consult the calendar and see it’s only June 16, that’s a helluva thing to accomplish. But when you’ve lost 10 of your last 11…yep, that losing streak math checks out.
The Royals haven’t held the lead in a game since winning in Oakland last Thursday.
It’s ugly.
Your daily RISP Update
Hell, yeah we’re doing this.
In the last four games ahead of Tuesday, the Royals were 2-37 with runners in scoring position. They didn’t give themselves many opportunities in Tuesday’s game as Casey Mize set down 11 in a row starting with the final out in the third. The string was broken by Jarrod Dyson’s double in the seventh. After Michael A. Taylor flew out, advancing Dyson to third, it was Nicky Lopez who finally came through.
Jammed on a 2-2 pitch and flared into left. That’s how you keep the line moving. You know, if the line can actually move.
The other Royals’ runs were scored in the third on a Carlos Santana ground out and a wild pitch. So that Lopez knock was the only time the Royals plated a run off an actual hit.
I feel like I’ve been banging that productive out drum all season with this team. They get in position to do some serious damage if they could just string together some hits, but it’s ultimately minimized by productive outs. We absolutely saw that in the third inning. With one out the Royals hit back-to-back singles. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Santana grounded out, plating that first run. When Salvador Perez was hit by a pitch and Jorge Soler walked, the bases were loaded. Only a wild pitch got them another run and Kelvin Gutierrez went down swinging.
That’s a fairly wicked slider from Mize.
The final tally with runners in scoring position on Tuesday was 1-5. That makes the team 3-43 with RISP over their last five games.
The almost return of Mondesi
This was curious timing…The Royals announced at 5:30 yesterday afternoon that they were activating Adalberto Mondesi from the IL. He was not in the starting lineup, but he was spotted on deck when Taylor made the final out of the game.
Here’s Mike Matheny’s explanation:
“We…had a pretty good idea how he responded today (Tuesday) and the work that he did before the game and how he felt that he was going to be activated tomorrow (Wednesday). Once the spot opened up with Bolaños it made sense to give us an opportunity to bring Mondi in for just what happened today. In case we got down to the very end, we needed his bat more than we needed his legs and to give him an opportunity to win that game for us.”
Matheny was referring to the corresponding move to get Mondesi back on the active roster; Ronald Bolaños going on the 10-day IL with a right flexor strain.
Of course in the midst of another losing stretch, the second-guessing game is in full bloom…Why wouldn’t Matheny use Mondesi to pinch hit for Jarrod Dyson in the ninth instead of Hanser Alberto? Or why not in the eighth for Kelvin Gutierrez following the Soler walk to extend the inning? That at least gives you the opportunity to shore up your defense in the last inning.
Just kind of strange to have that weapon at your disposal and not even use him. At this point, you would think that it’s imperative to give your best options a chance to at least tie a ballgame.
I would expect Mondesi to be in the starting lineup this afternoon.
The continuing offensive malaise
With all this discussion of the futility with runners on base, we should probably just take note of how the bats have done collectively since this slide started with the loss to Minnesota back on June 5. It covers 11 games where the team has averaged 2.7 runs per game.
Soler most definitely is warming up. He didn’t get a hit on Tuesday, but did walk twice which remains a positive sign. Dyson is a part-timer who remains valuable as long as he’s not overexposed. And he’s obviously still productive on the bases and can go get it anywhere he plays in the outfield.
A defensive gif in a section about the offense…That should tell you where this is going.
Lopez remains a capable understudy and Perez is having another fine season at the plate. I continue to remain impressed with Lopez’s approach at the plate.
But the rest? Woof.
Santana is slumping at the absolute worst time. He’ll turn it around but it’s probably not a coincidence the Royals current slide is happening when his bat goes cold. The offense should hopefully improve a bit with the return of Mondesi, but can he make up for the loss of Andrew Benintendi? Again, we’re seeing what happens when only two guys in the lineup are swinging an above-average bat. It’s tough to gain any kind of footing.
Even with Mondesi back, the Royals don’t have attractive options for right field or third base. It’s simply a mix-and-match approach where you hope someone gets hot. Hello, Hunter Dozier. It sure would be nice of Edward Olivares could translate his dominance of Triple-A into some sort of production in the majors.
A sticky situation
Home plate umpire John Tumpane made Tiger starter Mize change his glove during the game. Mize was not happy.
This is going to be focus number one for the rest of the season. Especially after the comments from Tyler Glasnow who now has a partial tear in his UCL.
Glasnow was referring to his use of sunscreen and rosin to get a better grip on the ball. There are so many issues at play here, this seems like just another hamfisted attempt from MLB to try to course-correct in the middle of the season. Glasnow absolutely has a point. Is Spider Tack and sunscreen the same? Of course not. But baseball isn’t interested in differentiating between the two. And that’s going to cause problems for everyone going forward.
And apparently, the color of the pitcher’s glove is going to be an issue.
This is a situation that’s going to get a lot worse. And Major League Baseball is attempting to douse a flame with a flamethrower. Smart move.
Central issues
Orioles 2, Cleveland 7
The Matt Harvey experiment just isn’t working in Baltimore. The former Royal was touched for five runs in the fourth on a series of singles. The scoring was capped by a two-run double from Eddie Rosario. That’s how you keep the line moving. Remember?
Rays 0, White Sox 3
Dallas Keuchel goes seven scoreless, limiting the Rays to four hits and a walk while striking out five. An error on a potential play at the plate led to two runs for the Sox. Adam Engle added another with a solo dinger.
Twins 0, Mariners 10
JA Happ got knocked around in four innings of work. Chris Flexen shut down the Twins bats, allowing four hits in eight innings. Maybe we should amend the Bell Axiom…”Never say it can’t get worse. You could always be the Twins.”
Since this most recent brutal stretch of baseball, the Royals have lost 6.5 games in the standings. They are a season-worst six games under .500.
Up next
Daytime baseball ahead of a much-needed day off for this ballclub. Tarik Skubal squares off against Brady Singer. First pitch is 1:10 CDT.
The Royals have set their rotation for the Red Sox series starting Friday at The K.
Friday — Jackson Kowar
Saturday — Kris Bubic
Sunday — Brad Keller
With the off-day, they had the opportunity to juggle the rotation a bit, but they’re going to give Kowar another start.