The Royals lost another frustrating game last night, their second out of their last three home games where they took an early lead on home runs totalling three runs in the first inning before failing to score again that night despite absolutely crushing the starter for the entirety of the first inning.
That’s strangely specific to have happened twice in three games.
Anyway, that loss could have some people fretting about the Royals’ playoff chances but if you’re a regular listener of the Royals Rundown podcast – and if you aren’t, you should be – you’ll know that we often discuss the importance of context. If the Royals can win tonight and tomorrow, they’ll still be in great shape on this homestand. Heck, if they even just win one of those games, they can still make great progress toward the postseason this homestand.
And so that brings us to tonight’s contest.
The Royals are playing a bit of roster shenanigans with Michael Wacha welcoming the birth of a new child yesterday, so Stephen Kolek will make his debut for the Royals tonight. He is starting for Noah Cameron, who has blown past his career high for innings pitched in a season and definitely looked a bit worn down in his last start against the White Sox on Monday. Kolek started 14 games for the Padres before the trade, accruing a 4.18 ERA with a quite poor 8.9% K-BB%. Kolek has been equally unimpressive in five starts for Omaha with a 6.63 ERA and 10.8% K-BB%. Though if you erase one disastrous start against Minnesota’s affiliate, he has 17 strikeouts to only four walks. His last outing saw him strike out two in only a single inning as the Royals knew there was a distinct possibility they’d be calling on him to pitch for the big league club this weekend.
The Tigers will send Jack Flaherty to the mound. Flaherty was the guy on the mound Sunday when the Royals scored six runs on seven straight hits after he sent the first eight batters he faced unceremoniously to the dugout. His return to the Tigers has not been as good as the first stint, but he’s mostly been fine. Hopefully, the Royals can get to him again.
Randal Grichuk will start in left instead of Michael Massey, who has gotten a fair bit more playing time than I think most of us expected when he was recalled from his rehab assignment. Of course, in the tiny sample size he also has a 107 wRC+. That doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to have returned to the guy he was last year, but he’s not doing any harm to the Royals by playing.
The Tigers have a dangerous lineup one through nine. Stephen Kolek will have his work cut out for him. But with Tarik Skubal looming tomorrow, the Royals would really benefit from ensuring they can’t get swept tonight.
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