The Kansas City Royals came into their recent homestand looking to find some life after a rough six-game road trip where they were swept by the Chicago White Sox and lost the I-70 Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.
They certainly hoped nine consecutive home games could be a remedy for a team sitting next-to-last in the AL Central. But those hopes were quickly dashed after sweeps by the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
The Royals finished the homestand 2-7, taking both wins from a series against Seattle. They are 3-13 in their last 16 overall after Wednesday night’s 7-0 loss to the Yankees.
The Yankees have often given KC trouble, exemplified by 13 straight regular-season losses to the Bronx Bombers over two seasons.
Wednesday’s game was the Royals’ last chance to muster a win against Aaron Judge and company before another 10-game road trip.
A new sign appeared on the team’s clubhouse door that read: “Be ready to f— win.” While frustration has become visible with this team, now 22-34 on the season, players have tried to maintain a belief that they can still win.
But the Royals failed to keep up with their opponent’s bats again, and could barely generate any offense against perennial All-Star Gerrit Cole, who made his second start of the season.
The Royals have been swept five times in 2026. The lack of firepower from the mound and at the plate has elicited more emotional responses from the group.
Manager Matt Quatraro and his staff are questioning their process, urgently searching for ways to win.
“Just trying to evaluate our, like we’ve talked about, our processes, our performance, how we’re utilizing players, and am I putting them in the best spots to succeed,” Quatraro said after the loss. “Are there other things that I can do to get the best out of the team? And we have a tremendous amount of the responsibility, I feel, is how I’m handling it, and what the coaching staff — how we come together as a group to support the players the best.”
How the Yankees swept the Royals
The Yankees began to deliver some damage in the fourth inning Wednesday, taking advantage of a squandered chance for the Royals, who could’ve taken the lead in the third at Kauffman Stadium.
With two outs, Maikel Garcia hit a shallow line drive that bounced in front of Judge. He responded with a clinical throw to the chest of catcher Austin Wells, who tagged a sliding Michael Massey out at the plate. Massey had attempted to score from second.
Quatraro said he was pleased with the decision to run on Judge.
“The way that ball checked up and the way he had to field it, you’ve got to take a chance there,” he said. “I think two outs, in that situation, trying to get on the board. I mean, if we’re going to be aggressive, we’ve got to be aggressive all the time.”
In the top of the fourth, New York garnered two runs from the bats of designated hitter Ben Rice and Judge.
Rice swung at the first pitch from left-hander Noah Cameron, a four-seam fastball, to hit a triple that took an awkward bounce off the left field wall and scattered away from Royals left fielder Isaac Collins past the foul line. Rice’s triple scored Paul Goldschmidt from first.
Judge hit a sac fly to right to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Cameron had a solid outing despite the two runs, allowing a walk and four hits with four strikeouts. But the Yankees worked him through his five innings. Cameron threw 94 pitches, 62 of them strikes.
Cameron allowed two runners in the sixth before John Schreiber took the mound and retired the side, including forcing Judge into a double play.
Righty reliever Nick Mears took the brunt of the Yankees’ production in the seventh, walking in a run with the bases loaded and two outs — on a pitch confirmed from an ABS challenge by Carter Jensen. Alex Lange took over after the walk, but the runs continued.
Rice hit an 88.6 mph slider between first and second base, driving in his second and third runs of the game for the 5-0 lead. Wednesday call-up Mason Black gave up a two-run home run to third baseman Ryan McMahon off a 95 mph sinker.
The Yankees ended the evening with eight hits.
The Royals only collected four hits off Cy Young winner Cole, who struck out 10 in his first win of the year. Cameron took the loss and is now 2-4 with a 4.61 ERA.
Maikel Garcia had two of the Royals’ hits, with the last one coming in the bottom of the sixth.
Royals frustrated by Yankees series
The sweep left a bitter taste in the mouth of Royals clubhouse. Losing is always tough, as Quatraro routinely says, and players maintain they are confident and determined to fight their way out of it.
For captain Salvador Perez, that fight may have to be literal.
“Concentration a little more, play angry,” Perez said after the game. “Play hard, angry, you know, like we want to win.”
An even-keeled Bobby Witt Jr. repeated the platitudes of “day by day” and “brick by brick,” emphasizing that players are working to be better across the board.
“Comes down to just us,” he said. “How much do we want it, and how bad do we want it? We can keep digging ourselves a hole, or we can come out of it. And I think with the guys that we have in here, we’re all pulling on the same rope, coming together as one.”
The Royals had to tip their cap to Cole, one of the most dominant pitchers in the last decade of baseball. But the players know it’s up to them to turn around a season that isn’t lost just yet. At least one team has made the playoffs with a 22-33 record in the past five seasons.
They put the burden strictly on their own shoulders to put some winning baseball together.
“We can admit as a team we’re playing really, really poor baseball, we’re not executing at a level that we’re capable of,” infielder Michael Massey said. “And I also think, at the same time, we could realize that there’s been less than 23,000 players that have ever played Major League Baseball.
“There’s a lot of talented guys in this room, there’s a lot of really good players. We just need to continue to fight, continue to work. Just a tough time. We’ve got to stick together, just keep fighting.”
Up next: The Royals have a day off before they play in Arlington, Texas, against the Texas Rangers on Friday at 7:05 p.m.
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