Three Up, Three Down: E-5x2

It's not algebra. It's the scoring for the first two plays of the Royals' latest loss, a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Texas Rangers.

This one immediately got out of hand.

Hunter Dozier committed a throwing error on the first play of the game and followed that up with a fielding error on the next one. One batter later, the Rangers took the lead. I know with the pitch clock these games are moving fast, but this one was over in just under five minutes.

The Rangers won 4-0. The Royals were shut out for the fourth time in 17 games. The record is 4-13.

Dozier has become something of a lightning rod for disaffected Royals fans. I mean, it’s not difficult to figure out why. The recipient of a contract extension ahead of the 2021 season on the back of an outlier that was 2019, Dozier has, over the course of two years and a couple of weeks of baseball, posted an fWAR of -2.9. Among qualified players, that’s the worst in the majors over that stretch. The “qualified players” is an important distinction because poor players usually don’t play enough to accumulate the necessary plate appearances to qualify for the leaderboards. Except when they’re Royals. For perspective, Dozier is one of two players to have a negative fWAR during this stretch. (Chicago’s Andrew Vaughn has a -0.9 fWAR since the start of 2021.

Two pitches into the game, Marcus Semien lashed a grounder to third. Dozier fielded it cleanly, but his throw pulled first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino off the bag.

One pitch later, Travis Jankowski squared to bunt. Normally, the baseball gods frown on the second batter of the game bunting. It’s bad strategy and poor karma. Except the baseball gods did not count on Dozier playing at third base. Now, Jankowski is a burner—his spring speed is in the 92nd percentile in the majors—but Dozier couldn’t field the ball cleanly and any intrigue surrounding a play at first was erased.

Two plays. Two errors for Dozier.

After Nathaniel Lowe popped out to short, Josh Jung launched first-pitch, center-cut sweeper over the left field wall. Four batters into the game, two plays that weren’t made by the third baseman plus a meaty pitch to the cleanup hitter…The Rangers were gifted a 3-0 lead.

In Kansas City, that’s known as an insurmountable lead.

Lyles is the kind of pitcher who is going to give up his share of home runs. The Rangers aren’t like a wildly powerful team, but when you’re offering up tasty pitches, those might not come back.

The aforementioned pitch to Jung…

And the solo bomb he surrendered to Semian in the third on a 1-1 pitch.

I will give Lyles credit. He made quick work of the Rangers in a couple of his innings, was able to keep his pitch count incredibly manageable, and, beyond the two dingers, limited any kind of damage. I’m a bit incredulous as to how exactly that happened.

Lyles was living in the middle of the zone pretty much all night. There is barely a single pitch that caught the edge. Like ever. He threw 95 pitches and recorded five swings and misses, striking out three, thanks to the largesse of the home plate umpire.

It was a helluva effort in keeping his team in the game. With the Dozier errors, the home runs were the only earned runs charged against Lyles all night. If you told me when the Royals signed him that Lyles could throw eight innings and allow just two earned runs, I would’ve taken that all day long. And expected the Royals would probably win.

Now? I would still definitely take that, but I would have to ask by how much the Royals lost.

Monday, it was four.

I would like to close by writing a couple of words about the Royals’ offense that managed just one hit and was shutout for the fourth time in 17 games:

It’s bad.