The Royals finally decide scoring runs is good
After sleeping through the first two games of the series against the Jays, the bats rumble and lead the way to a victory.
Well, that was a welcome change of pace.
The Royals batted around in the first, seeing 45 pitches from Toronto starter Yusei Kikuchi. They collected four walks (yes, four walks!) a double to plate one run and a single to bring home two. After back-to-back games where the offense couldn’t muster a single run, this first inning explosion was very welcome indeed.
But this is the Kansas City Royals, 2022 edition. It doesn’t really matter who is on the mound, it feels like no lead is safe. There were some nervous early moments from starter Brady Singer, but he held strong over his final two innings before the bullpen secured an 8-4 victory.
Yes, a win! Celebrate!
A more familiar Singer
I’ve spilled a considerable amount of bandwidth breaking down Singer and his changeup. If you’ll recall, it’s a pitch that he throws almost exclusively to left-handed batters. The Jays had three hitters from the left side in their lineup on Wednesday.
One thing I have failed to note is left-handed batters are feasting on Singer’s sinker. Lefties are slugging .667 against the pitch in limited exposure this year. Still…that’s not great. And it’s not like Singer has been unlucky with the pitch to left-handed batters. They have a .901 xSLG on the sinker according to Baseball Savant. Yikes.
Singer has had much more success using his slider against left-handed batters, holding them to a .333 slugging percentage entering play on Wednesday.
Against Ramiel Tapia in the second and Zack Collins in the third, Singer went to a full count on both. He served a slider to Tapia and a sinker to Collins. And I do mean served.
Both pitches were delivered in the nitro zone. Tapia obliterated the slider, bouncing it off the top of one of the advertising boards in the right field fountains. At 441 feet, it was the longest home run he’s hit outside of Coors Field by over 22 feet. Collins merely drove his 414 feet.
Both plate appearances from the lefties were notable for lack of changeups. Against Tapia, Singer started him with five consecutive sinkers. The sixth pitch was the slider that hung middle-middle.
Safe to say Tapia’s bat was sped up by watching those five sinkers coming in at around 93 MPH. The slider was 85 MPH. He was able to stay back on it just enough.
It was almost the exact same sequence against Collins. Singer flashed his slider on a 2-2 count that was fouled off. Then came back with two sinkers. The second of which was elevated straight down the heart of the plate.
He had already delivered two sinkers in a similar spot as to the one that left the yard. Collins fouled off both. He wouldn’t miss the third. Note the fourth pitch in the above sequence. On a 1-2 count, Singer caught the bottom of the zone on a sinker and it was called a ball. Tough break for sure. But Singer still has to avoid the center of the plate on 3-2. That was just poor execution on Singer’s part.
So the first two lefties, no changeups and two home runs. Fine. How would Singer respond to Cavan Biggio, the third left-handed batter in the Toronto lineup? Ahem…
I just don’t know what to make of this. Is this just Singer saying, screw it, I guess I’ll throw the change? It sure looks like it. Although I have to admit, I didn’t understand the sequencing of almost all sinkers to the previous two lefties. Sure, I get wanting to hold a pitch back for the second or third time through the order, but again…the sinker hasn’t been a good pitch for Singer against the lefties this year.
Singer threw just two more changeups. One on 1-0 to Tapia the next time they faced off that was scorched on a line to Nicky Lopez for an out. The other was on a 2-1 pitch to Biggio that was well out of the zone.
So here’s the progression of how often Singer has thrown the change over his five starts since his return from Omaha.
Plus, the sinker/slider mix is back to where we normally have seen Singer in 2020 and 2021.
Look, it was a decent outing from Singer. He didn’t walk a batter. He allowed eight hits on the afternoon, including those two that left the yard, but they were scattered enough that it didn’t inflict much damage. However, he recorded nine first-pitch strikes on 23 batters faced. And the traffic on the bases meant he needed 98 pitches to get through five innings. After praising last week what I saw as a transformation for Singer, it looks like he’s falling back into his old habits. He worked around trouble on Wednesday, but I have to say I’m a bit discouraged by what I seeing after a couple of strong starts after his return.
Don’t look now…
One night after reaching base three times (two walks and a single), Carlos Santana had a perfect day at the plate. He went 4-4 with two doubles (one sun-aided) and a walk. I don’t think I have to tell you who will be on the lineup card on Thursday.
If that email somehow avoids the scam spam filter, I can’t imagine those 29 MLB front offices wouldn’t just hit the delete icon before even opening. I suggest the Royals request a read receipt.
There’s just no way that Carlos Santana will bring anything in a trade. He’s spent the last year-plus torpedoing any value he may have. It’s inconceivable he could recoup some of that in two-plus weeks. Or any span of time between now and the August 2 trade deadline. If the Royals are lucky enough to find a buyer, they’ll have to eat most or all of that contract and get an org guy in return.
I’m telling you, Bobby Witt Jr. is going to be fine
I looked this up after the YouTube broadcast mentioned that Bobby Witt Jr. was leading all rookies in RBI.
You know that I’m not a fan of RBI as a stat. I prefer Baserunners Scored Percent (BRS%) from Baseball-Reference. Witt Jr. has come up with the second-most baserunners on the Royals and has brought home the most of those runners. That 18.8 percent success rate isn’t necessarily elite—there are over 20 hitters in the majors right now who have had over 100 runners on base and have brought home over 20 percent—but it’s still damn good. And as you can see, Witt Jr. is five percentage points above league average.
Salvador Perez hit a triple
That fact gets it’s own header. It was Perez’s first three-bagger since 2017. He also drove in the go-ahead run in the fourth. He’s 7-19 in his last five games.
Just win, baby
Given that the Royals have won just 18 times in their first 55 games, it’s hardly surprising they haven’t had a winning streak of any note this year. What boggles the mind is how infrequently the team has won even in back-to-back games. Just three times this year have the Royals strung together consecutive victories.
Witness…
April 7-April 9
The Royals won the first two games of the year against Cleveland. You’re forgiven if you don’t remember that. Heady times, though.
April 16-April 20
This was the Royals’ only three-game winning streak this year. What’s crazy is they scored only nine runs in the three games. Once upon a time, the pitching was alright.
May 16-May 18
The Royals took two games out the middle of a five-game set against the White Sox last month.
And that’s it. They have a chance on Thursday to add to this list. Fingers crossed.
Central issues
Tigers 3, Pirates 1
Daz Cameron hit a run-scoring triple to open the scoring for Detroit in the second and a run-scoring double to finish the day in the ninth. In between, Miguel Cabrera drove in a run in the eighth to break a tie. He’s hitting .318/.350/.436 over his last 30 games.
Rangers 0, Guardians 4
Shane Bieber went 4.1 with six strikeouts before exiting the game with… The Cleveland bullpen stepped up 4.2 innings of three-hit baseball while striking out five against no walks.
Twins 8, Yankees 1
I believe this is the first time the Twins defeated the Yankees. Like, ever. Jose Miranda had a big day, going 3-4 with a double while driving in three. Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers each homered. Chris Archer went five innings, walking four, but allowing just a single run.
Dodgers 4, White Sox 1
The Sox could manage only four hits against newly minted ace Tony Gonsolin and three Dodger relievers. Our pal, Johnny Cueto allowed three runs in six innings while striking out five. Through his first five starts for the Sox this year, Cueto has a 3.23 ERA with a 1.17 WHIP. Not too shabby.
Up next
The Royals open a four-game homestand against the Orioles. They lost two of three last month in Baltimore.
Thursday - LHP Bruce Zimmermann (2-4, 4.87) vs. LHP Kris Bubic (0-3, 9.33) @ 7:10
Friday - RHP Tyler Wells (2-4, 3.78) vs. RHP Jonathan Heasley (0-3, 4.62) @ 7:10
Saturday - RHP Dean Kremer (0-1, 6.23) vs. LHP Daniel Lynch (2-5, 5.36) @ 3:10
Sunday - RHP Kyle Bradish (1-3, 6.45) vs. RHP Brad Keller (1-7, 4.19) @ 1:10
So that wins in consecutive games note I dropped above…It looks like hopes are resting on Kris Bubic. Sure.