Three Up, Three Down: Perfection

Pitching, defense and timely hitting...the Royals' victory over the Orioles was perfect in every facet of the game.

Everything about the Royals’ 6-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles was perfect. The weather? Perfect. The starting lineup? Perfect. Zack Greinke? Perfect—of course. Matt Quatraro’s handling of the pitching? Perfect. Nick Pratto’s defense? Perfect. A combined shutout for the first time in 2023? Perfect. Time of game under two hours? Perfect!

Yep. 10/10. Would watch that game again.

The Royals won their second game at home this season. Their overall record stands at 8-23.

Greinke was sublime. He allowed three hits in five innings, striking out three while walking none.

Here’s the kicker: He threw only 44 pitches before he was lifted for a reliever.

Friends, this is a new day in Kansas City.

While Greinke was carving up the Orioles lineup and limiting hard contact, the fact was his velocity was down a little over a tick on his fastball. He was living off that four-seamer, throwing it over half the time. Such is the wizardry of Greinke. To say we hadn’t seen that particular pitch mix from Greinke this year would be quite the understatement.

He’s changing his pitch mix all the time. Keeping hitters guessing is part of how he survives. Against the Orioles, this was obviously a conscious decision. A plan of attack.

I should note that he’s obviously made the decision to move away from the curve, despite it being his number-one offering through his first four starts. It hasn’t been a good pitch for him to this point. If he locates his fastball as he did on Wednesday and compliments it with a sinker—which has been a solid pitch for him—along with the changeup, that’s what’s working right now.

Here’s Quatraro on pulling Greinke after five:

“What we had available in the bullpen tonight, what we thought we felt good about how we matched up the rest of the game, as well as being in the middle of a 16-game stretch and trying to manage innings.”

There’s also this consideration to be made: The Orioles were about ready to flip their lineup over for the third time. Beware the small sample sizes ahead, but this is how Greinke has done each time through his opponent’s batting order:

The batting average and on-base percentage actually go down, but the slugging jumps up. It’s notable that he’s allowed three home runs in 54 plate appearances the second time through while allowing three in 27 PAs the third time. I left the tOPS+ (his opponent’s OPS+ relative to his own numbers) and the sOPS+ (his opponent’s OPS+ relative to the league for that split) to underline that Greinke’s production absolutely decreases each time through the order. (Remember, anything over 100 is above the league average, so for the third time through the order, Greinke’s OPS+ is personally 24 percent worse than his overall production while it’s 51 percent worse than the league as a whole for that particular split.)

It’s just smart managing from Quatraro to pull Greinke when he did, even when he was relatively cruising. We have seen that the middle of that Oriole lineup is dangerous. Seeing Grienke for a third time would’ve only increased the danger.

Also, it should be noted how Quatraro managed his bullpen. Again, he turned to Aroldis Chapman in the seventh when managerial dogma states that as a setup guy, he should get the eighth. Except the seventh was the fourth, fifth and sixth hitters in the Baltimore lineup. A much more dangerous crew than those he would’ve presumably faced in the eighth. Instead, that inning went to Amir Garrett (who was pitching with a little more cushion after the four-run outburst in the bottom of the seventh) and the game was closed out by Josh Staumont.

Behind Greinke, the Royals bullpen provided four innings of shutout baseball, allowing three hits, a walk and three strikeouts. It was a masterful managing job from Quatraro.

Friends, it has only been two games, but Makiel Garcia is absolutely crushing the baseball.

This was his 2023 debut:

Man, I’m about to veer into “the Royals are hitting the ball hard but don’t have much to show for it territory” aren’t I? Fine. Let’s dive in headfirst.

Here’s what Garcia did last night:

That’s seven plate appearances with the ball in play, six of which had exit velocities 98 MPH or greater. Also, six balls were hit in the air. And check out those xBAs. Yeah, he only has two singles, but damn. After the game, Quatraro called out Garcia’s sacrifice fly as one of the key plays of the game. After back-to-back singles to open the inning, it scored Pratto from third, providing the Royals with a 3-0 cushion. They would go on to hit three consecutive extra-base hits to double that lead.

Quatraro ran out the exact same lineup on Wednesday that he posted on Tuesday. That’s the first time all season that the Royals have duplicated a lineup. I should clarify: I’m not talking about using the same lineup in back-to-back games. I’m talking about using the same lineup at all. Yes. Game number 31 was the first time we saw a previously utilized lineup. And with reason, I think. It should be a good one.

One other thing! The Royals didn’t strikeout once on Wednesday. That was the first time that had happened since September 7, 2017. And just the seventh time overall since the start of 2010.

After Tuesday’s game, I lamented about how the Orioles’ rebuild was in much better shape than what we’re seeing in Kansas City. One game does not change that, but Wednesday showed what was possible. Vinnie Pasquantino went 3-3 with a pair of doubles and a home run to drive in three. Nick Pratto went 3-4 with a double. And Bobby Witt Jr. tripled and scored twice.

I’ve also written quite a bit about the imbalance of the Royals lineup. On Wednesday, that wasn’t the case as Pratto, Michael Massey, Garcia and Kyle Isbel went a combined 8-13 with three runs scored and two RBI. Again, it shows what’s possible. They just need to find consistency.

While I’m in on the batting order Quatraro filled out, I’m really in on the defensive alignment for that starting nine. I’m speaking specifically to Pasquantino as the designated hitter and Pratto at first base. Nothing against Pasquantino at first, it’s just that Pratto is such a sublime defender.

This was the first play of the game. By just getting to the ball, Pratto saved a double, maybe a triple. And don’t sleep on the underhand feed to Greinke covering first. It was perfect. That’s what Pratto brings with his glove at first. (And we all know about Greinke’s fielding ability. He’s breaking from the mound immediately.)

Pratto closed out the inning snaring a sharp liner for the third out. Great extension to leap and make the play and credit to the Royals for positioning him perfectly.

This is how Pratto closed out the fourth.

That was 105 MPH off the bat and Pratto was playing level with the bag because he was holding on the runner. With those reflexes, it’s like having a third baseman playing at first.

Pratto is also looking like a different hitter since his recall from Triple-A. In five games he’s collected nine hits in 21 plate appearances, hitting .500/.571/.556 with two walks and eight strikeouts. The whiffs are always going to be part of Pratto’s game. Clearly, though he’s been working on his approach. His whiff rate in Omaha was 21 percent, well off last year’s 31 percent. That’s translated into what looks like more controlled plate appearances. He’s not trying to do too much at the moment. Instead, he’s looking to just get a good swing and put the ball in play. It’s working.

It was just a satisfying baseball game. A complete baseball game. One of those games that reminds you of why you love it so much. It hasn’t happened around here often which was maybe why it was so enjoyable. I think we would all appreciate more like that.

Let’s give the final word to Greinke, who in his typical fashion sums up the victory:

“Defense was great. Hitting was great. Pitching was good. It was just a really good game.”