The Royals are returning to Kauffman Stadium for a six-game homestand that will see them face the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros. They will see the Rangers first and will look to get revenge for their last series, which was a sweep. Both teams have been good since the start of June, as the Rangers are 4-2 with series wins over the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Guardians. In what will be a series mimicking the first one, let’s go into the probable starters and stats to keep an eye on.
Probable Starters
Game One: Stephen Kolek (3-1, 3.32 ERA) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (5-6, 4.10 ERA)
Game Two: Seth Lugo (2-4, 3.91 ERA) vs. MacKenzie Gore (4-5, 4.23 ERA)
Game Three: Michael Wacha (4-4, 3.44 ERA) vs. Kumar Rocker (2-5, 3.54 ERA)
Bobby Baseball Has Struggled More Recently
It isn’t often that Bobby Witt Jr. is struggling at the plate, but he has not been his usual self recently. He has struggled in the past couple of weeks, and since the home series against Seattle, he is batting .219/.306/.375 for an OPS of .681. The road trip, sort of, didn’t treat him much better as he slashed .225/.354/.300 for an OPS of .654.
On the positive side, however, Witt Jr. is walking a ton over this recent stretch with a 14.6% walk rate during the road trip. The main issue, as it has all season, is the fact that he is just not getting the power going and during the road trip he only had three extra base hits, all of them being doubles.
In the first series against the Rangers, he went 3-for-14 with a walk. Against these probable starters, it doesn’t favor Bobby Baseball as he is 4-for-20 against them, with all the hits coming against Nathan Eovaldi. The great thing for Witt Jr. is that they get Eovaldi first, and a good game one could spark his performance for the homestand.
He is still a heavy favorite for the MVP despite the bat not fully being there, but for the Royals to break back into contention they need Bobby Baseball to get back into form at the plate.
Royals Rotation Looks for Redemption
Last time against the Rangers, while there was some bad luck, the Royals’ starters did not perform at their best. Stephen Kolek had a five-inning outing after giving up four runs in the first inning, and powered through. He ended the day allowing six runs (four earned), six hits, striking out five, and walking one. Two errors from his defense didn’t help him either, but a two-run moonshot from Brandon Nimmo also didn’t help. He has been good for the Royals this season, and he will look to right the wrongs from his last start against the Rangers.
For Seth Lugo, he had a good outing against the Rangers, which was again not helped by his defense having two more errors. He had a quality start, allowing three runs (one earned), six hits, striking out six, and walking none. The only earned run came from a solo home run from Josh Jung. He is coming off a rougher start against the Twins and has had some ebbs and flows since the start of May.
Michael Wacha got the short end of the stick in his start as the Rangers saw him well. He went five innings, allowing six runs, eight hits, striking out five, and walking three. He is also coming off a start against the Twins where he wasn’t sharp either, so maybe pitching at home will get him right.
If the Royals want to have a good homestand, the starting rotation will have to limit the Rangers offense and its main engine.
The Royals Have to Get Josh Jung Out
There is an extensive list of “Royal Killers” throughout the history of the franchise, and Josh Jung wants to rise up that list with another good series. In his career, he is slashing .311/.380/.533 for an OPS of .913 against the Royals. In the first series, Jung dominated at the plate going 6-for-15 with two doubles, a home run, and three RBIs.
He also has success against Wacha and Lugo, going a combined 3-for-8 against both, and two of those hits are a double and a home run. Now, there is a catch to all of this damage from Jung, and that is he does it away from Kauffman. At Kauffman Stadium, Jung slashes .176/.263/.353 for an OPS of .616 in a limited sample size of 19 plate appearances.
The Royals have put together some good momentum on the road trip, but can they carry that momentum forward into a six game homestand to potentially get back into wildcard talks?
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