Whit Merrifield supplied the offense. Edinson Volquez brought the sexy. The bullpen slammed the door. And the Royals won their third consecutive game.
Party Time, It’s Excellent
In Merrifield’s at bat leading off the bottom of the first he saw six consecutive fastballs from Carlos Carrasco. The heaters clocked in between 94 and 96 mph. Were I a betting man, I’d wager that this gave Merrifield ample opportunity to measure the offerings. He looked at pitches down and away, took a called strike, and looked a tad overaggressive on a 3-1 pitch. He drove a pitch on the outer half to right.
Since we’re looking at this objectively, it really should have been an out. Thankfully the Lonnie Chisenhall experiment is still happening in right field for Cleveland.
Per Statcast, Chisenhall’s route efficiency on that Merrifield triple was 67.6%. Escobar follows with RBI flare to shallow RF. 1-0 KC.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) June 14, 2016
Breaking: A route efficiency of just above 67 percent is poor.
Merrifield scored on Alcides Escobar’s single. Standing on its own, that’s notable. I mean, it’s not everyday Escobar does something positive at the plate.
For Merrifield’s third at bat, Carrasco went offspeed, spinning a change between a couple of curves. Merrifield went down for a curve and parked it in the front row just over the Royals bullpen in left.
Statcast had the batted ball speed at 101 mph with a launch angle of 30 degrees. It was a no-doubt 409 foot bomb.
Feeling Sexy
Sometimes, it’s not lust at first sight. Sometimes, it takes a little bit to understand the sexy. That’s what happened on Monday when Volquez struggled out of the gate. In this case it was a 28 pitch first inning that featured three walks. Volquez escaped with no damage when Chisenhall grounded out to end the inning. After the Royals plated a run in their half, it seemed to put a little spark in Volquez’s step.
From that point on, Volquez was in command. He finished with seven innings of two-hit ball with just one more walk allowed. He pitched to contact for most of the night, striking out just three, allowing his defense to do the dirty work.
Volquez’s Game Score of 72 was his highest on the season. That means for three consecutive games, Royals starters have turned in their best performances of the year.
6/11 – Danny Duffy – 73
6/12 – Yordano Ventua – 72
6/13 – Edinson Volquez – 72
Shut Them Down
The Royals bullpen, as usual, was up to the task. Both Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis were asked to pitch for the third consecutive game for the first time this year.
Sure, Herrera wobbled. Sure, it was a nervy time. Even at two runs, the margin was razor thin. The Royals offense beyond Merrifield wasn’t able to string enough hits together to generate more than two runs. And when Jason Kipnis left the yard to lead off the inning… well, you could be forgiven if your faith wavered.
After a walk, it was a strikeout against Mike Napoli on a filthy slider when the Indians first baseman was sitting dead red. A double play ball followed to get out of the inning with just the one run of damage.
The Wade Davis Experience made his appearance to slam the door, crushing the baseball hopes and dreams of Cleveland’s. They still have the Cavs. At least for the moment.
Up Next
The Royals revenge tour continues on Tuesday at 7:15. Chris Young will try to keep the ball in the yard.