As August withers away, every game is starting to make a huge difference for the Kansas City Royals’ playoff odds.
Entering play on Thursday, the Royals sit 2 1/2 games back of the Seattle Mariners for the third American League wild card spot. They had a golden opportunity to make up ground on Wednesday night, but they couldn’t come through with the big hit.
After Vinnie Pasquantino’s three-run home run in the first inning powered the Royals to a lead, Kansas City allowed the slumping Texas Rangers to score five unanswered runs for a 6-3 defeat. The Royals are 65-62 entering Thursday’s series finale.
Still, manager Matt Quatraro has at least one reason to remain positive.
Kansas City, which has been one of the lightest-hitting teams in the sport all season, has started hitting for power recently. The Royals have seven home runs in the first three games of the Rangers series, and Pasquantino has hit one in each game.
“Extremely encouraging,” Quatraro said, per Robert Falkoff of MLB.com. “You get three runs on one swing of the bat, it’s tremendous. Vinnie has been swinging the bat exceptionally well for a long period of time now, but the power is an added bonus.”
The Royals’ 120 home runs on the season still has them ranked 27th out of the 30 Major League Baseball teams. But in August, they’ve got 28 blasts, which ranks seventh. Pasquantino’s seven blasts this month tie him for fourth among all players in the league.
There have been lots of other guys getting in on the act as well. Mike Yastrzemski has five long balls this month, Salvador Perez has four, and Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. have three apiece. The lineup is clicking right when the Royals need it.
Though Kansas City still faces an uphill battle to make it back to the playoffs, the more big swings they can get from those core players the rest of the way, the better their chances are of usurping the Mariners or one of their other wild card competitors.
More MLB: Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino Makes Blunt Admission After Costly Error Vs. Rangers
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