The last month-plus of Royals baseball has been particularly encouraging, for a variety of reasons. There have been many solid developments among the starting pitchers, there has been timely hitting, there has been excellent defense, there has been speed (my God, has there been speed) and there is plenty of promise for the future.

And on this night, there was a walk-off hit from Salvador Perez—on the 12^th anniversary of his signing with the organization, no less—and the 14^th victory in 17 games at Kauffman Stadium. That’s high-quality #RoyalsDevilMagic that is.

The thing about this particular 100-loss debacle is how much fun September has been. Ryan O’Hearn, Adalberto Mondesi, Brad Keller, Alex Gordon and more have been downright enjoyable to observe on a regular basis, and even if only parts are sustainable going forward, it’s put an optimistic coda on a year that seemed destined to disappoint since the day Lorenzo Cain’s signature dried on a contract in Milwaukee.

[Miss you, LoCain.]

Things started poorly. Lindor led off with a single, went to second when Ryan O’Hearn dropped Glenn Sparkman’s pickoff attempt (not O’Hearn’s finest night at the bag) and moved to third on a balk. Ramirez lifted a sac fly into left to score Lindor three batters into the game.

The Indians would not score again, although had Brett Phillips not made a leaping grab of a Melky Cabrera liner to end the first that might not have been the case.

They’d try, of course. The Royals certainly gave them ample opportunities, like a second inning that saw Yandy Diaz lead off with a double, Brandon Guyer hit a one-out single to move him to third… and then two flyouts calmly ended the threat?

Or back-to-back one-out singles by Josh Donaldson and Cabrera which went nowhere in the sixth.

Or Melky doubling in the eighth with two down and Rajai Davis on first, only the speedy Davis didn’t score on that play and then Adalberto Mondesi made a play that, quite frankly, shouldn’t have been possibly on a back-hand pick and throw from deep in the hole at short. That kid is special and I don’t care how much his plate discipline could stand to improve.

It didn’t take much plate discipline to do what he did in the third inning. With two outs and on a 2-0 count, BERTO cranked a homer into the right field bullpen to tie it up and lock the game into a seemingly endless series of pitching changes and close-but-not-quite run-producing chances. Theatrics at the end of the night aside, large swaths of this game were unspeakably boring.

The Royals were in the drivers seat come the fifth, which Brian Goodwin led off with a double, followed by a curveball to the noggin of a ducking Cam Gallagher. Phillips failed to lay down a bunt and popped out to Yan Gomes behind the plate, while Whit Merrifield and Mondesi both lined out to center to end a great chance for the Royals, with Greg Allen making a terrific catch on a low Mondesi liner to keep the Royals off the board.

Let’s see… [attaches pince-nez to nose] no threats, no great defense, let’s go to extras! Business picked up as soon as we got to free baseball. Jason Hammel entered to pitch the 10^th for the Royals and, after a solid Merrifield play to retire Lindor at first, almost immediately found himself in trouble thanks to a one-out single-and-steal by Allen and a walk to Ramirez. Things got worse when the duo stole third and second.

They got exponentially better when Hammel struck out Brandon Barnes to end the inning.

In order to get to Salvy’s walk-off, first you get past a Jorge Bonifacio ground out and Merrifield flyout. Then you’ve got BERTO walking and swiping second, then taking third on Alex Gordon’s walk. Salvy roped his single into left and the Royals were winners to open the series.

Your Unusually Happy (Although Appearing with More Frequency of Late) Tweet of the Game

In the twilight of a long, sad Royals season, Sal Perez walks off the division champs. There is nothing not to like about Salvy. #Royals #MLB

— Mike Gillespie (@MikeGillespieJD) September 28, 2018

The Bright Spot: Whit and BERTO running. Sparkman throwing a career-best five innings of competent ball. Manufacturing runs in a way to make Whitey Herzog proud. Five scoreless relief innings. A real cavalcade of happiness tonight.

The Nadir: Phillips is hitting .189 and that popped-up bunt was brutal.

The Next Step: Mike Clevinger, who has been good all season, will face Ian Kennedy, who has been good for two straight starts, in the final Friday night contest at Kauffman this season. 7:15 p.m. (CT) for those interested.

And they’ve been this underwhelming even while becoming the first team ever to have four pitchers reach the 200 strikeout mark. Their top four starters are top notch, but a struggling bullpen has led to some issues. The potential is there for true greatness with Brad Hand, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, but it just hasn’t been there due to both injuries and poor performance. It’s worth noting that these four games will be tune-up games for the Indians, so their starters aren’t likely to go deep into games, though I guess you never know.

Indians Vitals

Royals vs. Indians

Offense

Pitching

Indians Projected Lineup

Projected Pitching Matchups

Thursday – 7:15 pm

This was pretty much inevitable for Tomlin at some point and the fact that it has held off this long says a lot about him. He doesn’t have good stuff and spends so much time in the strike zone, so eventually he was going to bitten by the long ball more than he had before and this season he’s allowed 24 homers in just 65.2 innings, a total that might make Chris Young blush (sorry, Chris). He still has phenomenal control, but he’s just not missing nearly enough bats and he’s getting hit awfully hard with a barrel rate of 11 percent, nearly double the MLB average. It’s bad. He’s been in and out of the rotation in September, so he’s only a few days removed from throwing 76 pitches in a game, which means if they decide to go awhile with him, he can probably do it. But that said, do you really want him to? He’s allowed a .365/.412/.738 line to lefties while Ryan O’Hearn has absolutely mauled righties. If you’re picking up what I’m putting down and you play daily fantasy, you’re welcome. Of course if you didn’t already know that, you probably shouldn’t be wasting your money.

Sparkman will get his third career start in place of Jorge Lopez who was shut down after his rib injury and bad start his last time out. I do believe Sparkman can be a worthwhile reliever and am doubtful of him long-term in the rotation, though, so I guess it’s similar to a Lopez start. He relieved Lopez in his last outing, throwing 55 pitches over four innings and generally being okay, though the lack of swings and misses has me concerned about his future in any role. Still, it’s nice to see the mid-90s fastball and you’d think a secondary pitch could emerge that we just haven’t seen yet from him in the big leagues. This will be his first time going against Cleveland, so it’ll be a nice test for him even if he does only get bits and pieces of the regular lineup.

Friday – 7:15 pm

I feel like a lot of people are surprised at the season Clevinger is having, but if you watched him last year, you shouldn’t be. The stuff plays, and now that he’s got his walk rate under control, it plays even better. He’s deceptive too, which makes him incredibly difficult to hit. So while it’s surprising that he’s gotten to this point, I don’t think it is based on last season. He’s also been hit harder by lefties than righties, though not to the extent of Tomlin. That said, 13 of the 21 homers he’s allowed have been to lefties and 33 of the 58 extra base hits. He’s had some first inning struggles, allowing six home runs and 17 runs in his 31 starts, and the Royals know all about that having scored three in the first against him a few weeks ago at home before getting shut down by him the rest of the way. Including that start, he’s faced the Royals four times this year and gone 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA with just two home runs allowed (to Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez). So my guess here is that the Royals will be happy if they do treat this as a shorter tune-up.

If we’re being honest, I’d have never guessed that Kennedy has thrown more than 100 innings this season. I actually forgot he existed while he was on the disabled list. All that said, it’s hard to argue with the results in his three starts since he’s been back. He’s gone 19 innings, allowed 17 hits, six runs (four earned) with 16 strikeouts and five walks and posted a 1.89 ERA. He’s generally actually been really good. Of course, he’s been facing teams with nothing to play for but the offseason, but still, it’s better to be good in your only sample than bad. He’s faced Cleveland once this year and was outstanding, going six shutout innings and striking out eight to pick up his first win of the season. It was roughly four degrees that day, so that helped, but again, good results are better than bad.

Saturday – 6:15 pm

Kluber probably isn’t going to win another Cy Young, but he definitely belongs in the conversation as he currently leads the American League in innings pitched and has some excellent results. For him, a mid-season funk of sorts probably cost him the award. He went 8-4 with a 3.94 ERA in 15 starts from June 16^th to September 18^th, which bumped his ERA from 2.10 to 2.93. Now, he was outstanding in his last start against the White Sox, going seven shutout inning with 11 strikeouts, but the overall numbers are probably a cut below the other candidates. The question that I think is fair to ask with Kluber is just how worn down he is. Since the start of 2014, he’s thrown 1,127 innings and faced 4,463 batters. That’s a lot. This year against the Royals, he’s 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA in four starts, but he’s been hit hard at Kauffman Stadium where he’s posted a 6.35 ERA and allowed eight runs on 16 hits in 11.1 innings. This game is, in fact, at Kauffman Stadium.

Junis had his first meh start of the year against the Tigers last time out, and it might be part of marring a really strong finish for him after allowing four runs on eight hits in three innings the time out before that one. But no homers allowed is a good thing, given the season he’s had, so he gets one last chance to go into the offseason on a high note. I’ll run the numbers as I do every start for him, but since coming off the DL, he’s gone 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 12 starts spanning 69.1 innings with eight home runs allowed. He’s struck out 66 and walked just 14. That’ll play. He’s been hit hard by Cleveland a couple times this year, but his last time out against them earlier this month, he allowed just two hits over seven shutout innings. More of that would be a nice way to finish his year.

Sunday – 2:15 pm

The 2018 season wraps up with the Royals seeing Carlos Carrasco somehow for the first time since April 6^th when he went six innings and gave up two runs on five hits. Now, think back to that time. Giving up two runs against the Royals then was basically like giving up five or six to a real team, so maybe that wasn’t such a great start. Of course, he is a legitimately very good pitcher and has found his way to another fully healthy, very good season. He strikes out a ton of hitters, doesn’t give up a crazy amount of hits and doesn’t walk guys. No, he isn’t an ace, but he’s a heck of a number two. If you’re looking for a weakness, he’s actually been at his worst when he’s first starting a game, though that’s if you can call that his “worst” as he’s given up a .253/.287/.406 line. Still, though, he’s allowed 10 of the 21 homers he’s allowed all season in just 35 percent of the plate appearances. He’s 10-6 with a 3.55 ERA in 23 games against the Royals in his career. Whit Merrifield has really enjoyed hitting against him in 16 plate appearances, putting up a .500/.533/1.000 line. That’ll play.

And the season wraps up with Eric Skoglund throwing the first pitch, so that’s…something. Though I should be fair to say that he’s been really good since he came off the DL and I was actually disappointed that his last start got cut short because of the rain delay in Cincy. In four games, he’s gone 15.1 innings and given up just eight hits and two runs to lower his ERA by 1.3 runs. He’ll be making his third career start against the Indians. The first two were both last year and didn’t go so well. He lasted 3.1 innings combined and allowed 11 runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts and four walks. So yeah. Happy last day of the season!

This is the toughest series of the year to predict because who knows how the Indians are going to play it? Do they want to stay completely fresh and everyone will play or do they want to take the opportunity to rest guys and play their bench a little bit before the postseason? My guess is we don’t see guys for too long unless they need the reps like maybe Josh Donaldson. I’m going to go out on a true limb here and say the Royals take three of four and give us some warm and fuzzy feelings to take into the offseason.

• It’s easy to forget about Jorge Soler because he hasn’t played in the big leagues since mid-June, but if you think back to the team in May, he was probably the most exciting part of it, and with good reason. Soler is a 26-year old with plate discipline, massive power and actual athleticism, and he was somewhat making good on his promise before yet another injury derailed his season. Now, it wasn’t all perfect. He hit just .175/.238/.361 over his final 105 plate appearances of the season, but he showed that he could actually carry an offense when he got hot. But since he got hurt, the Royals have added Brett Phillips and Brian Goodwin to the outfield mix and O’Hearn has entered the fray as another offensive piece for 2019 at least, so where do the Royals go with him? Looking ahead to 2019, the roster is a little bit cramped with Alex Gordon, the aforementioned outfielders, Jorge Bonifacio and Rosell Herrera, another new addition to the big club since Soler went down. Those five along with O’Hearn, Hunter Dozier, Whit Merrifield, Adalberto Mondesi, Salvador Perez and likely Cam Gallagher as a backup catcher leave the Royals with really one roster spot open given their proclivity to carry 13 pitchers. Soler can fit there, but one of two things needs to happen for it to work. They have to believe Herrera can handle shortstop because Mondesi is not a 162-game player like Alcides Escobar has been (for better or for worse) or they’ll have to move away from Herrera’s versatility and sign a utility infielder (please not Escobar) who can handle shortstop as a backup. But if they choose to sign that utility player and keep Herrera, I don’t know where Soler fits. And while he had a nice season offensively, I can’t imagine his trade value is especially high. It’s a bit of a conundrum.
• Some notable Royals who will be out of options next season are Mondesi, Bonifacio, Goodwin (he already is), Lopez and Brian Flynn. Of course, Cheslor Cuthbert is famously out of options and has been since seemingly 2010, so the Royals will have some restrictions on their roster next year. In addition, Paulo Orlando (big time DFA candidate) and Bubba Starling (same) will be out of options as well, which should enhance their DFA likelihood. Obviously, their hope is that Mondesi and Bonifacio are good enough to stay on the roster all year, so they’re not all that important. But Goodwin, Lopez and Flynn are interesting enough. I think Goodwin has shown a great deal since coming over with a nice bat and has shown well in center field. An outfield with him in center, Phillips in right and Gordon in left is one that can be one of the better defensive outfields out there, though Goodwin and Gordon aren’t the fleetest of foot, so from a ground covering perspective, Phillips might be needed to be in the middle even though his arm plays better in right than Goodwin’s. But there are other factors, such as Nicky Lopez and his potential callup to the big leagues that might push Whit Merrifield to center field again next year. So there are a lot of questions, but Goodwin is an interesting player to watch as someone who might be auditioning more for his next team than his role on the next good Royals team.
• Even before they started winning, the Royals pitching started to look much better and in their last 21 games before last night, they’d posted a 3.53 ERA with fewer hits than innings pitched and a reasonable home run rate. Their walk rate has dropped by a decent amount as well over the last few weeks, which is really nice to see. The starters are the real bread winners here, averaging about six innings per start before last night (and that includes Duffy’s outing of less than an inning) with an ERA of 3.11, fewer hits than innings pitched and very few home runs. It’s been really encouraging to see what the young (for the most part) rotation has done. And Fillmyer, I thought, was terrific last night even though the numbers aren’t quite as good because of the eighth inning. The bullpen has been better, but not enough. They’ve given up too many home runs and they’ve been way too hittable. I will say it looks better if you take Jason Hammel out, but it’s still not where you want it. To me, I think guys like Jake Newberry, Glenn Sparkman and newly acquired Jerry Vasto are going to have their chance to join Kevin McCarthy and probably Wily Peralta in the 2019 bullpen, but I really believe there’ll be at least a couple new faces along with the potential debut of Richard Lovelady next year. There’s work to be done.
• Since the start of this 18-game stretch where they’ve gone 12-6, one thing that I’m not sure stands out, but I’ve noticed is that they’re actually walking quite a bit more.  They’ve walked 59 times now in their last 18 games. That’s a walk rate of 8.8 percent, which isn’t anything special. It would rank around 11th or 12th in baseball, though, which is considerably higher than where they are. It’s also WAY higher than the 7 percent they were walking before this stretch. A lot of it is just silly randomness, but guys like Alex Gordon, Ryan O’Hearn and even Jorge Bonifacio have done a nice job of working walks and all have a place on the 2019 Royals. We’ve mentioned the patience of some of the players in the lower levels of the system, so we can at least dream a little that this is the start of a more patient lineup for years to come. I’m not holding my breath, but you never know.

BPKC Hitter of the Day Rubendy Jacquez 4-5 2b, BB, RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Glenn Sparkman 7 IP 6 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 8 K 7-3 GO-FO 88p/62k

Lexington Legends 5 Greenville Drive 4

Starter Marcelo Martinez made his debut for the Legends Friday night and after starting things off rocky he smoothed things out pretty well. The leadoff hitter blasted the second pitch from the lefties hand for a solo home run. From there he settled down tossing five consecutive scoreless frames while striking out nine hitters along the way. With Martinez cruising the bats got rolling in the third inning with a two-run home run by Brewer Hicklen after MJ Melendez scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1 Lexington. A rbi single by Kyle Isbel scored another in the sixth before a fielding error made it 5-1 in the seventh inning. The home half of the seventh saw Martinez give up a single and a walk before being lifted for Janser Lara. Much like the first inning Lara was greeted by a home run from the first hitter he faced, closing the gap to 5-4. From there Lara tossed two scoreless innings and handed it off to Tad Ratliff who gave up a couple of baserunners before securing the out that clinched their first playoff appearance since 2006.

Nick Pratto 3-5 2R, SB (22)
Brewer Hicklen 3-4 HR, 3 RBI, SB (29)
Kyle Isbel 2-5 R, 2b, RBI
Marcelo Martinez 6 IP 4 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 9 K 7-1 GO-FO 81p/60k

Tulsa Drillers 8 NW Arkansas Naturals 1

Emilio Ogando’s string of eight consecutive starts of two runs or less ended on Friday night as the lefty gave up five runs on five hits and a pair of walks over just two and two-thirds innings. Those five runs were part of a six-run third inning that put the Naturals in too big of a hole to dig out. The loss effectively ended their season.

Yunior Marte 3 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 0 BB 3K 3-2 GO-FO 44p/30k
Samir Duenez 2-4 RBI
Xavier Fernandez 2-2 R, 2b, BB

Omaha Storm Chasers 3 New Orleans Baby Cakes 0

Back from the bigs, Glenn Sparkman showed his experience tossing seven shutout innings against the Marlins Triple-A squad. Attacking the zone with 67 strikes on just 88 pitches Sparkman struckout eight against just six hits. The Chasers had staked Sparkman to a 3-0 lead in the first inning with a pair of two-out rbi doubles by Paulo Orlando and Humberto Arteaga. Relievers Josh Staumont and Richard Lovelady finished the job from there with Lovelady working the final inning and one-third to earn his eighth save of the season.

Richard Lovelady 1.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 3 K 1-0 GO-FO 25p/16k
Humberto Arteaga 2-3 2b, RBI, BB
Ramon Torres 2-4 R

Game 1 Orem Owlz 3 Idaho Falls Chukars 1
Game 2 Idaho Falls Chukars 6 Orem Owlz 1

The Chukars lost a low scoring game in the first of the doubleheader on a late home run. Lefty Rylan Kaufman made his Idaho Falls debut tossing a scoreless first inning before giving up an unearned run in the second inning while striking out three. That Chukars evened the game in the fourth on a Bubba Starling solo home run it the fourth inning. Former Oklahoma State pitcher Jon Heasley worked from the third inning, tossing scoreless ball until the seventh when Angels 2nd round pick Jeremiah Jackson got into one for a two-run home run that decided the contest. In the second game Elvis Luciano was very good in his debut with the club, tossing six innings with just three hits and a pair walks allowed. The right-hander gave up just an unearned run while striking out five batters. A pair of extra-base hits scored three runs in the fourth inning when Julio Gonzalez tripled in three before Rubendy Jacquez doubled in another. The Chukars scored a couple more in the sixth inning before Domingo Pena tossed the final scoreless inning.

Jon Heasley 5 IP 5 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 4 K 6-3 GO-FO 71p/57k
Elvis Luciano 6 IP 3 H 1 R 0 ER 2 BB 5 K 8-4 GO-FO 89p/54k
Hunter Strong 1-4 R, 3b, 2BB

Friday Boxscores

Rays Vitals

Royals vs. Rays

Offense

Pitching

Rays Projected Lineups

Projected Pitching Matchups

Monday – 6:10 pm

Wood has made good on his opportunity this year, working as an Opener for the Rays quite a bit (this is his eighth start, none longer than two innings). He’s been much better actually coming out of the bullpen, though, with a 4.76 ERA in seven starts, albeit with way more strikeouts than in his nine appearances coming in during the middle of the game. With the Royals starting four lefties and Ryan Yarbrough having last pitched five days ago, he seems like a likely successor to Wood in this one. Yarbrough shut down the Royals moderately well when he faced them in May in a traditional start, going five innings and allowing just one run on five hits. He’s thrown two straight scoreless outings, but things have been a bit rocky for him in general after a run of three straight solid outings. He’s posted a 4.59 ERA over his last 66.2 innings, so not horrible, but definitely room for improvement.

Lopez will make his second start with the Royals, and while the numbers weren’t there for him in his first start, I think there were some positive signs. I do believe the stuff is there for him, and while I believe he’s a reliever in the long-term, it’s a great opportunity for him to showcase that maybe he can be more over the next few weeks as the season comes to a close. One thing that I found interesting in his first start was that he got 16 fly balls and just two ground balls, which is sort of the opposite profile the Royals had been going after in acquiring pitchers over the last few seasons. If home runs and offense continue to decline, he could have success in the way previous Royals pitchers have with that profile. If not, he’ll be in trouble the way previous Royals pitchers have with that profile.

Tuesday – 6:10 pm

If not for his injury and general lack of innings per start, Snell would be a legitimate Cy Young candidate. Maybe he should be even with a low inning total because he’s having an absolutely phenomenal season. The stuff has always been there for him, but after a couple of average seasons, it looked like maybe he’d be one of those pitchers who just never completely unlocked it. This year, though, he’s striking out a ton of hitters, limiting walks better than he ever has before and has been incredibly stingy with hits, allowing just 85 in 133 innings. That’s crazy. People aren’t going to like this, but the Royals need to go full-on righty in this one. Snell has allowed a .125/.195/.192 line to lefties this season, so you can tell me all day that guys like Brett Phillips and Ryan O’Hearn need to hit lefties sometime, but yikes, this isn’t that time. Plus, he has a 0.97 ERA at home this season. Granted, it’s nine starts, but if you were betting on no-hitters being thrown, this wouldn’t be the worst one to bet on.

Sparkman, like Lopez, will get his second start with the Royals. He should be clear for 90 pitches or so in this one after throwing 75 in his start against the Blue Jays, so we’ll get a good opportunity to see him a little bit more in this game. He was good in his four innings on Thursday, but one thing that stood out to me was 12 swinging strikes in his 75 pitches. That’s really impressive. His slider was really amazing with eight swings and misses on 26 pitches thrown. If he can continue to flash that, there’s an opportunity for him to actually be a quality big league starter. Even if not, it does lend credence to my belief that he has a chance to be a really solid big league reliever. Either way, that’s a nice outcome for a guy they lost in the Rule 5 draft at one point.

Wednesday – 6:10 pm

We’ll update with the Rays starter as soon as it becomes available. My guess is this is going to be Ryne Stanek. He’s been their opener extraordinaire, which is obviously a little different than a starter. Stanek has really blossomed in his second big league season, striking out a ton of hitters and generally giving offenses a lot of trouble early in games. As the opener, he’s struck out quite a few more hitters but also has given up home runs at a slightly higher rate and has been maybe slightly more hittable. He’s really not someone you can count on for more than 20-25 pitches, though as he is a much different pitcher when he’s worked past that 25 pitch mark. Yonny Chirinos is a good bet to be the primary pitcher for the Rays in this one. He went six innings in his last outing, allowing five runs on nine hits with just one strikeout against the Red Sox.

I really like a lot of what I’ve seen from Junis since he went on the disabled list, so I’m beginning to wonder if that back injury really was the problem for him during his rough stretch earlier this season. Since he came back, he’s thrown 30.2 innings and struck out 35 while walking 12 and, maybe most importantly, allowing just two home runs. His command has been a little wonky with those 12 walks and four HBP as well, but I think that’s actually helping him. He has allowed 32 hits since coming back, but a .357 BABIP says there should be some regression there, which can propel him back to similar numbers to what he was showing earlier this year. He pitched twice against the Rays last year, once in relief, and gave up just one run on three hits in 6.2 innings while striking out 10 and walking two. This Rays team is very different than last year’s, but maybe he can continue that in this one.

Thursday – 6:10 pm

After acquiring Glasnow from the Pirates, there was a question about how he’d be used. I think a lot of people expected that he’d be another opener in their bullpen/rotation given that he’d been pitching out of the bullpen in Pittsburgh. But he’s started and increased his innings in each start. His first three went incredibly well, but he struggled a bit in the fourth start, giving up five runs on three hits in 6.2 innings. Walks were a big problem for him in Pittsburgh that didn’t follow him until his last start when he walked three. He also saw his whiffs drop considerably, getting only five swings and misses when he was stretched out. Now, all that said, the Red Sox are the best team in baseball and an incredibly difficult lineup to face. The Royals, well, aren’t. As a pitcher with an amazing minor league track record, Glasnow could very well be coming into his own. He’s a fastball/curve guy with a very hard fastball and a curve that is a big-time strikeout pitch, but I honestly don’t know what to expect out of this start. I get a bit of a Reynaldo Lopez vibe from him and the Royals did just mash him on Sunday. But then again, they’re also the Royals, so it’s pretty clear that they’re capable of being shut out by anyone.

The Royals starter will be updated once we know. That said, there’s a pretty decent chance it’s Danny Duffy, returning to the scene of the best pitching performance of his career when he struck out 16 and allowed just one hit over eight innings, so that could be fun.

I honestly don’t know what to expect of this series. The Rays are just okay, but they can be a lot of fun. I think the Royals snag one of the four and continue the slow march to the end of the season that feels like it might never come.

• Jorge Lopez was okay enough in his first start for the Royals on Wednesday night. I had a chance to be at the game and I was disappointed in his fastball. I thought it would look better than it did, but I was pretty impressed with his changeup. Now, it’s obviously a small sample, but his start didn’t really do much to change my mindset that I believe he’s a reliever long-term for this team. Heck, if the Royals ever decided to employ an opener strategy, Lopez seems like he’d be a nice option there. I just think the stuff will play better in a 15-30 pitch outing rather than a 90-110 pitch outing. Between Wednesday night, the couple big league outings I’ve seen and a little video I’ve watched of him in the minor leagues, the stuff just wasn’t all that dynamic to me in a longer outing whereas I could absolutely see it playing up as a late inning reliever or a strong middle reliever who can get five to seven outs if needed. While that sounds like a negative, I don’t think it really is. If the velocity plays up just a bit (he averaged about an MPH more on his fastball as a reliever with the Brewers this year than he did on Wednesday night) with that changeup and the potential plus curve, he’s a real weapon for this team moving forward. I would give him a start every fifth day for most of the rest of the season because there’s no reason not to, but even in a game where he couldn’t get through the fifth and gave up six runs on eight hits, I was encouraged by the potential there.
• I’ve said before that I believe the Royals will do whatever they can to fix this bullpen for next season. Part of it is that a bullpen this bad just can’t continue season over season, but part of it is that there’s a lot of value in a young team not suffering through some of the demoralizing losses this team has seen during the season. And with that in mind, the last 40ish games of the year can, should and likely will be an audition of sorts for the Royals to try to see what they need to get from outside the organization in order to turn the bullpen to at least an average unit. I mentioned Lopez, but you can add in last night’s starter Glenn Sparkman to the list along with recently acquired Jon Perrin from the Brewers. Sparkman is especially interesting to me. When I saw him in spring training, my first thought was he could be a setup man in a good bullpen. He has a good fastball, a slider with a lot of bite and he’s a bit of a bulldog. I wouldn’t say that he has the stuff to close, but I believe he can be a quality option in the sixth or seventh. With those three combined with Jason Adam, Heath Fillmyer, Josh Staumont, Richard Lovelady and some others, there’ll be plenty of options. They’ll determine how much the Royals try to go outside the organization in order to put together a bullpen that can at least hold a few leads here and there.
• I’ve talked about the outfield before, but next season has a chance to be very interesting. In the Royals outfield, they have Alex Gordon, Brett Phillips, Brian Goodwin, Jorge Bonifacio, Jorge Soler and Rosell Herrera to go along with Elier Hernandez and any surprises who find their way up the big league ladder as the 2019 season goes along. I think Herrera goes into next season as a bit of a super utility player, so he’s not really a huge concern for me, but with three lefties and two righties among the other five, I do believe the Royals can make that work for them if they choose to keep all six players. Like I said, Herrera can play all over and get three or four starts a week (if you feel the need to play him that much), but let’s be real about Alex Gordon. He really shouldn’t face basically any lefties. Soler and Bonifacio can both handle DH duties at times (as well as some other rotating), but Gordon should only start against righties. And the beauty of it is that this group has three players who can play center, so you never have to go into a game with Alex out there or even Bonifacio like he was in his second or third big league game last year. I think it can work and I think there can be a potential for 500 at bats for all of Phillips, Goodwin, Soler and Bonifacio if they so choose. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the Jorges gets shopped to make this whole discussion moot.
• I don’t have a ton to talk about here since Clint is the resident prospect expert (fine, not just at BP, but the best Royals prospect guy there is), but Arnaldo Hernandez throwing a complete game on Wednesday night in the manner he did absolutely earned him a bullet point in Friday Notes. The guy threw 97 pitches to get through nine innings, which is impressive enough, but he threw 80 strikes among those pitches. 80! He, of course, did not walk a batter in his outing. I should have included him in the group that might find themselves auditioning for a bullpen spot next year, though I could see him auditioning for a rotation spot as well with the way he’s pitched. Across three levels, he’s 11-5 with a 3.99 ERA in 121.2 innings and there’s nothing that impressive, but he’s always been a control guy who has added some velocity this season, according to Clint. He was Rule 5 eligible last season but didn’t get picked, but he’s only 22 years old and won’t be 23 until near the start of spring training, so maybe he can be a surprise development. If nothing else, a complete game with 97 pitches and 80 strikes is a fun story.

I get it, every effort should be made to always play all 162 unless there are extenuating circumstances. Players deserve the opportunity to stat-pad for contract purposes. Fans bought tickets. If you have a window, you go for it. It makes sense—baseball and business sense, which are often one and the same.

That said, this game ended far after midnight, in front of several thousand fewer fans than I’m sure either team was expecting. I’m not sure what could be done to prevent this—the only open date they both still have on the schedule is August 27, which would take the Jays from Baltimore to Miami via one-day stop in Kansas City. Maybe build in some extra off days in the MLB schedule to combat this? I don’t know the solution, but it can’t be post-midnight ballgames between two sub-.500 teams in a stadium that’s 92 percent empty. End rant.

Now that I’ve exposed myself as an idiot and charlatan of the highest order, we can get down to business: the Royals won! That’s a split against a real, live American League team! I’m heading out to buy a lottery ticket! Sixteen straight games without an error! I’m very excited, as you can tell from the exclamation points!

After the lengthy delay, the game got started officially at 9:29 p.m. (CT). Starter Glenn Sparkman struck out two in the first inning, while his counterpart Sam Gaviglio punched out Salvador Perez to end the first.

Little did either know, that would be the highpoint.

Sparkman’s problem’s arose in the second inning, when his control deserted him. After old friend Kendrys Morales grounded out, Teoscar Hernandez walked and Kevin Pillar doubled him to third before Danny Jansen’s sac fly scored Hernandez and moved Pillar to third. Sparkman proceeded to hit Aledmys Diaz with a pitch but was bailed out not so much by Perez, who double-clutched his throw, but because Diaz elected not to slide.

The Royals evened the score in the bottom of the second, although there was no Rube Goldbergian mechanisms required to make that happen—Lucas Duda just worked the count full and mashed a hanging slider over the fence. Still pretty amazing no contender wanted a veteran left-handed bat for the price of a couple of high-upside teenagers.

The Blue Jays retook the lead briefly in the fourth thanks to a leadoff single by Justin Smoak, a curveball that missed the mark by feet, not inches, and moved him up 90 feet and then a Morales single to plate Smoak.

Perez and Duda went meekly to open the fourth before a two-out rally yielded three runs that really decided the game. Rosell Herrera got the line moving with a single and scored on a triple by Jorge Bonifacio. Ryan O’Hearn (single) drove in Bonifacio and Hunter Dozier (double) knocked in O’Hearn, who runs with the grace of Cotton Hill on bath salts.

Between the delay and this being his first big-league start, Sparkman was going to be on a short leash and he exited after 75 pitches and four innings of largely disaster-free baseball. But the bullpen—this bullpen!—decided to toss five innings of three-hit ball, striking out six in the process. Back-to-back five-inning outings from the pen have yielded no runs. It’s like we don’t even know these guys anymore!

Meanwhile, the offense added a couple of runs just in case Brandon Maurer, et al., decided they needed to make it interesting. In the fifth, Herrera doubled home Alex Gordon after a one-out walk, and more could’ve been had there—Perez (single), Herrera (double) and Bonifacio (free pass) had loaded the bases with two down, only for O’Hearn to strike out on three pitches in a big spot, or as it’s known in the trade, “To Escobar.”

Old-fashioned small-ball the likes of which we rarely see in the American League helped the Royals pick up their final run. After a Dozier leadoff single in the sixth, Adalberto Mondesi moved him into scoring position with a bunt and Whit Merrifield tagged a single into left to score Dozier. And it’s post-midnight, so this recap is over.

Unusually Happy Tweet of the Game

Don’t look now, but Brandon Maurer has been pitching better. #Royals #MLB

— Mike Gillespie (@MikeGillespieJD) August 17, 2018

The Bright Spot: Is it too late to sell this bullpen—the competent one, not the gasoline-bearing unit from April, May, June and July—to a contender? Oh yeah, and three hits for Herrera and two apiece for Merrifield, Bonifacio and Dozier.

The Nadir: Two hours, fourteen minutes worth of delays for [gestures] THESE two teams. No wonder baseball can’t figure out how to properly market Mike Trout.

The Next Step: 244 strikeouts and a combined record of 10-25 toe the rubber at Guaranteed Rate Field when the Royals embark on a seven-game road trip. Jakob Junis takes the ball for Kansas City, while old friend James Shields gets the call for Chicago. Alex Gordon (.471 all-time) beats Shields like a piñata, so hopefully that continues.

BPKC Hitter of the Day – Jose Caraballo 2-4 R, 2-2b, RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day – J.C. Cloney 7 IP 4 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 5 K 9-3 GO-FO 79p/54k

Transactions – Khalil Lee promoted to NW Arkansas
Jason Adam promoted to Kansas City, Justin Grimm put on the DL
Michael Emodi and Hunter Strong placed on Burlington roster, Isaiah Henry transferred to Surprise roster.
Emmanuel Rivera transferred to Arizona on a rehab assignment.

Kannapolis Intimidators 4 Lexington Legends 1

The Legends difficult start the second half continued in Kannapolis after a bus ride that normally takes under seven hours arrived some 11 hours later. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep or White Sox pitcher Parker Rigler just spinning a good outing, but whichever it is, the Legends struggled to a 1 for 9 effort with runners in scoring position. The Legends scored their only run in in the fifth inning after Cristian Perez singled, stole second and scored on a Marten Gasparini single. Starter Andres Sotillet after working five scoreless innings struggled in the sixth, giving up a leadoff single before hitting a pair of batters to load the bases. One hitter later Sotillet would give up a double to score two runs before giving up another two-run single to push Lexington down 4-1. The Legends would get a runner in scoring position in three of the final four innings but failing to push anyone home.

Seuly Matias: 1-3 HBP
Nick Pratto: 1-3 BB
Cristian Perez: 1-4 R, SB (5)

Lynchburg Hillcats 5 Wilmington Blue Rocks 1

The Rocks were limited to just four hits on Wednesday, scoring a run in the first before being blanked over the final eight innings. Starter Ofreidy Gomez matched that effort for five innings giving up a solo home run in that time in a 1-1 game. The right-hander couldn’t get through the sixth without any damage, allowing four runs when Lynchburg connected on three extra bases hits with a run-scoring triple, a double and a two-run home run to take a 5-1 lead that would be more than enough to finish off Wilmington.

Blake Perkins: 1-4 R
Rudy Martin: 1-3 2b, K
Anthony Bender: 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 0 K 2-1 GO-FO 11p/6k

Round Rock Express 6 Omaha Storm Chasers 4

The Chasers lost to Round Rock for a third consecutive game, this time with a late two run home run off the bullpen. Starter Glenn Sparkman worked six innings with six strikeouts, allowing six hits and three runs (2 ER) with three hits in the third to plate two runs and a passed ball leading to an unearned run in the fifth. The offense got Sparkman off the hook with a pair of seventh inning home runs from Donnie Dewees and Ryan O’Hearn, the latter a two-run home run that scored Jorge Bonifacio. That even score wouldn’t last long as Sam Selman would give up a single and a walk before Coach Poldberg would turn to Jake Newberry. That move would fail for Poldberg when Newberry gave up a three-run home run to Tommy Joseph to give Round Rock a 6-3 lead. The Chasers scored and put the tying runs in scoring position in the ninth on a rbi double by Paulo Orlando but Ramon Torres would strikeout and pinch hitter Frank Schwindel flew out to end the threat.

Jorge Bonifacio: 1-4 R
Donnie Dewees: 1-4 HR
Ryan O’Hearn: 1-4 HR, 2 RBI

Idaho Falls Chukars 5 Grand Junction Rockies 1

Lefty J.C. Cloney won his third consecutive decision to start his season with another impressive start. Working seven innings for the second time in three tries Cloney tossed shutout baseball while creating nine groundouts along next to five strikeouts. The Chukars offense backed him up quite nicely, scoring five runs in the first five innings with four different hitters driving in runs including a two-run double by Jesus Atencio in the fourth inning. The win pushed Idaho Falls back to three games above .500 early in their season.

Andres Martin: 2-3 R, RBI, BB, SB (3)
Nathan Eaton: 1-4 RBI
Kyle Isbel: 1-4 RBI

Wednesday Boxscores

Thursday Probables
Omaha – Jon Dziedzic 3-6 3.97 ERA 1.31 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Foster Griffin 3-8 6.19 ERA 1.64 WHIP
Wilmington – Gerson Garabito 2-6 4.32 ERA 1.51 WHIP
Lexington – Yefri Del Rosario 0-3 10.45 ERA 2.42 WHIP
Idaho Falls – TBD
Burlington – Randy Acevedo 0-0 5.40 ERA 2.00 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day Frank Schwindel 3-4 R, 2b, 2 RBI, BB

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Glenn Sparkman 7 IP 4 H 1 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 11-4 GO-FO 105p/74k

Transactions LHP Dan Tillo promoted to Wilmington, LHP Cristian Castillo put on DL.

Salem Red Sox 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 5

Starter Gerson Garabito’s control issues have been a problem this season with the right-hander regularly giving free baserunners and some hard contact as he struggles with his command in the zone. It was more of the same in this one for the Rocks with the right-hander walking five hitters on the day and allowing plenty of hard contact. The Wilmington offense staked Garabito to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before Garabito allowed a run on a triple and a sacrifice fly. It appeared like Garabito got an inning-ending double play ball but Gabe Cancel dropped the flip from the shortstop leaving both runners safe. With a reprieve in the inning Salem prospect, C. J. Chatham unloaded on a pitch deep over the leftfield wall to give Salem a 4-2 lead. A walk allowed by Garabito in the fifth led to another run before his day ended after six innings. Slumping first baseman Chris DeVito had a big day at the plate for the Rocks with a rbi double in the seventh as part of a three double two run inning and hit a solo home run in the ninth but an insurance home run off Carter Hope had given Salem the insurance they needed an inning prior.

Chris DeVito 2-4 2R, HR, 2b, 2 RBI
Khalil Lee 1-4 RBI
Emmanuel Rivera 1-4 RBI

Springfield Cardinals 1 NW Arkansas Naturals 0

The Naturals ran into a rehabbing buzzsaw as the Cardinals stud pitching prospect Alex Reyes dominated them for seven and two-thirds innings. The Baseball Prospectus #8 overall prospect struckout thirteen Naturals hitters while allowing just a single by Luis Villegas and three walks. The Naturals starter Andres Machado gave up the games only run on a solo home run in the second before finishing five and two-thirds ball with four strikeouts. NW Arkansas was unable to get anything going when Reyes left in the eighth as the Springfield pen finished off the shutout.

Nicky Lopez 0-3 BB, K
Anderson Miller 0-2 BB, SB
Andres Machado 5.2 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 4 K 7-5 GO-FO 98p/64k

Omaha Storm Chasers 4 Iowa Cubs 2

The Chasers received another solid start from newcomer Glenn Sparkman in the third game of their four-game series with Iowa. The right-hander changed speeds from 90-94 mph with his fastball, controlling it and commanding it as usual while mixing in his low 80s change and curveball to keep hitters off balance. That control and command yielded just two three ball counts against him, walking one hitter on the night while allowing just four hits and one run. The lone run was via a double in the sixth inning followed two-base error after Billy Burns dropped a ball as he tried to avoid colliding with second baseman Jack Lopez. Despite the error, Burns contributed plenty, scoring a pair of runs with a leadoff double in the third inning and another leadoff hit in the fifth. That fifth inning featured a two run double by Frank Schwindel who later scored in the inning as part of a four-hit night. Reliever Josh Staumont struggled in the ninth to finish the game off and was relieved by Brandon Maurer, earning his second save in the process.

Billy Burns 2-4 2R, 2b
Cam Gallagher 2-4 RBI
Josh Staumont 1 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 1 K 1-0 GO-FO 30p/20k

Saturday Boxscores

Sunday Probables
Omaha – Trevor Oaks 2-3 3.15 ERA 1.35 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Foster Griffin (lhp) 2-4 3.98 ERA 1.44 WHIP
Wilmington Gm1 – Arnaldo Hernandez 4-1 2.97 ERA 1.40 WHIP
Game 2 – Dan Tillo (lhp) 1-1 4.35 ERA 1.23 WHIP
Lexington Suspended Game
Game 2 TBD

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Erick Mejia 4-5 2R, 2b, 2 HR, 4 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Garrett Davila 7 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 5 K 10-6 GO-FO 96p/57k

Recent Transactions Lexington – Activated IF Ricky Aracena, Dennicher Carrasco from DL. Optioned to Idaho Falls IF Julio Gonzalez, activated from Arizona LHP Robert Garcia.

Wilmington – LHP Josh Mitchell, Oli Nunez promoted from Lexington, RHP Jared Ruxer and OF Brandon Downes promoted to NW Arkansas

NW Arkansas P Jacob Bodner retired, received RHP Andres Machado from Omaha

Omaha RHP Glenn Sparkman promoted from NW Arkansas

Lexington Legends 7 Greenville Drive 3

The Legends starter Garrett Davila did his job on Sunday, working seven innings of one-run ball. The lefty who had struggled with his control last year at the same level walked just one hitter in the game while tossing 57 strikes on 96 pitches and keeping the ball low in the zone to also earn 10 groundouts. With the game tied 1-1 after six, the Legends broke things open with a two-run triple by Jeison Guzman in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead before putting it away in the eighth. In that eighth frame, Nick Pratto opened the inning with his sixth home run of the season before Dennicher Carrasco’s fourth pushed the advantage to 7-1. The Drive scored a couple in the ninth off Tyler Zuber but it was already over after Lexington’s power display.

Seuly Matias: 0-1 R, 2BB, HBP
Nick Pratto: 1-4 HR
Sebastian Rivero: 2-4 R

Carolina Mudcats 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 3

The Rocks offense struggled for the second game in a row against the Brewers High-A squad, getting just a three-run home run by Emmanuel Rivera for the offense in their second consecutive loss. The loss was also the fifth in their last six games for Wilmington with starter Cristian Castillo surrendering five runs in six innings on eight hits, five of which were of the extra base variety.  Outfielder Kort Peterson continued his hot hitting with two hits, improving his average to .327 on the season with a .908 OPS on the season.

Khalil Lee: 0-3 R, BB
Emmanuel Rivera: 1-4 HR, 3 RBI
Kort Peterson: 2-3 R, SB, HBP

NW Arkansas Naturals 11 Tulsa Drillers 8

The Naturals hot hitting offense was back at it again on Sunday, jumping on Tulsa starter Devin Smeltzer in his four innings of work. Again it was the top four hitters in the lineup doing much of the damage for the Naturals with Erick Mejia leading the charge with a multi-home run game, the second of his career. The bottom third of the order chipped in with six hits including Anderson Miller’s second home run of the season. Starter Emilio Ogando couldn’t escape the fifth frame to earn the win, allowing five runs before yielding to Walker Sheller who allowed a run for the first time at Double-A on a two-out single in the sixth. The NW Arkansas 10-1 lead was eventually slashed to 11-7 on Franco Terrero’s seventh home run allowed in 14 appearances, Tulsa’s fifth against him. Reliever Jake Newberry gave up a run in the ninth before getting a strikeout to end the threat.

Donnie Dewees: 2-5 2R, 2b
Nicky Lopez: 1-5 R, 2b, RBI
Elier Hernandez: 2-4 R, 2b, RBI, SB (4)

Omaha Storm Chasers 4 New Orleans Baby Cakes 2

The Chasers received a quality start from Glenn Sparkman in his first appearance with Omaha on Sunday in New Orleans. After working through Double-A with just one walk allowed in seven starts Sparkman walked a pair in this one but also limited the Baby Cakes offense to just four hits, allowing only a sixth inning run on a pair of two-out hits. The struggling Chasers offense did enough for Sparkman to earn that first Triple-A win, manufacturing a pair of runs in the fifth with a sac fly and bunt single that scored another. A fielding error in the ninth on a ball hit by Cam Gallagher led to another run before a double play scored the Chasers fourth in the game. Reliever Josh Staumont walked the bases loaded in the ninth but Eric Stout helped him out of the jam by getting the final two outs of the inning with just a run allowed to secure the save for the Chasers.

Cam Gallagher: 2-4 R, RBI, 1-3 CS-Att
Josh Staumont: 0.2 IP 0 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 1 K 0-1 GO-FO 28p/11k
Ryan O’Hearn: 1-3 2R, BB

Sunday Boxscores

Monday Probables
Omaha – Trevor Oaks 2-3 3.67 ERA 1.40 WHIP
NW Arkansas – TBD
Lexington – Dan Tillo 1-1 3.72 ERA 1.13 WHIP