The Kansas City Royals were defeated by a final score of 9-1 on Friday night by the Texas Rangers. As the score suggests, Kansas City‘s pitching did not have the best day to say the least. However, the offense was especially a problem. The Royals’ lineup has been consistently bad in recent days.
They have managed to score only two total runs across their past three games overall. Kansas City has scored only five runs across their past four games. On Friday, they had only six total hits as well as the aforementioned one run.
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The lineup was expected to be a strength in 2026, but the offensive production has been lackluster overall.
The Royals are currently 29th in runs scored, 22nd in home runs, 21st in batting average, 28th in OPS and 25th in hits. Kansas City has simply been unable to find a rhythm at the plate as a team.
Stephen Kolek had the start for Kansas City on the mound. He surrendered six runs (four earned) in his five innings of work. The bullpen allowed three more runs.
The pitching was not great, but the offense’s continued struggles is placing additional pressure on the pitching. The lineup needs to begin scoring runs on a more consistent basis.
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For now, the team is in an overall slump. There is plenty of baseball left to be played in 2026, but the ball club must figure things out soon.
The Royals fell to 22-35 overall with the defeat against the Rangers. They are in fourth place in the American League West standings, as they trail the first place Cleveland Guardians by 11 games.
Kansas City is trying to turn the season around. That is much easier said than done, though. The lineup’s struggles have been especially concerning. They were shut out in the contest on Friday until the 9th inning. Meanwhile, the pitching has been rather inconsistent as well.
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The ball club has now dropped four consecutive contests. They are looking to end the losing streak sooner rather than later. One more huge losing streak could cement the team’s status as a seller ahead of the MLB trade deadline. The Royals would obviously love to avoid that if possible.
The Royals will attempt to get back on track on Saturday afternoon against the Rangers in Texas. First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 4:05 PM EST.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
