A much anticipated rematch between last year’s World Series combatants kept the tension rolling. Another Royals-Mets game going down to the wire. A bit of a drab start, honestly. If you hung around for the eighth and ninth, you got reacquainted with Royals baseball. And you were rewarded with a 4-3 Royals win in kickoff of defense of their title. It’s good to be back.
Play of the game by WPA
The bullpen was a little wobbly. Wade Davis entered the game in the ninth to do his Cyborg thing, but got squeezed facing his first batter, Travis d’Arnaud, not getting the pitch on the outside corner, despite painting that real estate three times.
The heat turned up when Curtis Granderson singled, putting runners on the corners with one out. That set up the key at bat of the game against David Wright. With the tying run on third with one out, the Royals still had the advantage, but their Win Probability was 63 percent. Three pitches later, the Royals WPA jumped back up to 84 percent.
Wright, as you will recall from last October, is still struggling with his back condition. It’s clearly difficult for him to catch up to the heat. Davis brought the smoke, throwing a 96 mph fastball that Wright swung at and missed. Next was a 94 mph cutter Wright was late on and fouled back. Finally, a 93 mph cutter on the inside edge that was called strike three.
Breathe.
Sexy Ed Volquez
So about that velocity spike for Edinson Volquez from last October? Yeah, it’s still happening.
Statcast had Volquez topping out at 97.5 MPH against David Wright. Thats the hardest pitch hes thrown since 7/27/14. Didnt hit 97 last year
— Daren Willman (@darenw) April 4, 2016
Volquez scuffled with command, walking three against five strikeouts. Yet he was able to prevent damage by continually getting ground ball outs. Of the 18 outs he recorded, he got 10 on the ground. It was a bit of a high-wire act, but Volquez was able to get the outs when absolutely necessary. Good veteran grit, there.
Royals gonna Royal
The first run was plated thanks to an error, passed ball, a walk, and a single. The second came across via a sac fly following back to back singles. The singles train went full steam ahead in the sixth when the Royals strung together four singles after a leadoff walk to score two. It felt so familiar. It felt so good.
Jack is back
Joakim Soria made his return to The K. His command was a bit… Let’s call it rusty. Maybe as the new guy, he just doesn’t fully comprehend how the Royals bullpen functions as the monster it is. After allowing a leadoff single, he walked two of the next three batters and basically lived in the upper half of the strike zone, if he found the zone at all.
After the walks, the Mets just kind of dinked Soria to death. Soria made decent pitches when necessary, but Lucas Duda fought off a running four-seamer and dropped one down the left field line. Michael Conforto got one on his hands and dropped a flare just out of the reach of Mike Moustakas. After 29 pitches, he had just two outs to his credit and exited for Luke Hochevar. Long time Royals fans are amazed at this scenario.
Up Next
Day off Monday. Ring ceremony Tuesday. Scheduled starter Ian Kennedy has been pushed back to the weekend series against the Twins. Chris Young will jump two places to take the ball against the most hated man in Queens, Noah Syndergaard. Read more about the match-up in our series preview.