I enjoy soccer. You’re mileage may vary, but that’s OK. In soccer, they allow ties. That means you could invest two hours of your life in a game that ends 0-0. “My god, that’s boring!” you may be saying at this revelation. Perhaps. But not always. Certainly, there are some 0-0 draws that are dreary and dull, but there are some 0-0 scoreline that are enormously entertaining, despite the final score.
The point I’m trying to make is that in baseball, like all sports, not every contest can hold your interest for the duration. Saturday was one of those games. The Royals bats are just sleepwalking at this point. Quite the difference from the just completed homestand. Hell, quite the difference from the first few innings on Thursday. These kind of swings can be difficult to comprehend. A team that rolled off a team record 10 consecutive games with double-digit base hits just needed two full games to reach 10 hits. Confounding, isn’t it?
*I should add that our photo service has been AWOL the last couple of games. That’s too bad, because the Royals were playing in the old school power blues. The proper uniforms, full kit… V-necks, “Kansas City” across the chest, blue pants. It was cool. Honestly, it was the best thing about this game. And I can’t find a photo with them wearing these uniforms. Appropriate given the level of play tonight.
Dreary Offense
Not much to talk about here. Salvador Perez returned to the lineup and picked up a pair of hits against a pitcher he’s done very well against in his career. Kendrys Morales went opposite field against the shift and picked up a double. Reymond Fuentes had a pair of singles.
The funny thing was, in the first seven innings of the game, the Royals went down in order only once. Yet except for the seventh, they couldn’t get a runner past second. In other words, the singles train remained at the station.
When Everything Falls Apart
How do you properly assess Ian Kennedy’s start? He was really good through the first five innings – second inning wobble aside – but everything went egg-shaped in the sixth. Francisco Lindor led off the inning and Kennedy set him down on strikes, retiring him for the only time of the evening. Yes! That was great news Kennedy was able to retire Lindor. Then, came two-time strikeout victim Mike Napoli. Home run. No! Horrible result against a guy Kennedy had owned up to that point. Up was down. That sort of thing.
Fine. A solo home run hurts when your offense is scuffling, but it was still just a two run game at that point. Kennedy gets the next batter, so he’s one out away from closing out the inning. Then, the floodgates opened.
Double, single, home run. A 2-0 deficit balloons to 5-0. Suddenly, the game takes on a much different vibe.
Which brings us back to the original question. How do we properly assess this Kennedy start? I’d give him high marks I suppose. But as quickly as things turned sour the third time through the order it certainly skews the box score line against him. It wasn’t as if Kennedy was tiring. He had thrown just 73 pitches entering the inning and his velocity remained strong. It was just a couple of poorly executed pitches.
The Napoli home run was in the middle of the plate. The Tyler Naquin home run was actually a good pitch. He was out in front of a change-up on the outer half and muscled it to right-center. Sometimes things happen in baseball you just can’t properly explain. Like allowing a Naquin home run on a pitch on the outer half.
New Royal Killer
Francisco Lindor is good. He’s in the process of owning the Royals. It’s going to be a long few years with him in the division. Let’s just admire his play and move on.
Up Next
The Royals, who had swept their previous two series, now try to avoid being on the other side. Chris Young returns to the rotation while the Indians counter with Corey Kluber.