Three full series out of the MLB All-Star Break, and the Royals have beaten the Padres 2-1, swept the Giants in a trio of matchups, and tied the division rival Detroit Tigers 2-2 off the back of a 5-4 win Sunday afternoon. Kansas City is 7-3 in its last 10 games and has at least plucked itself out of last place in the American League.
Now nine games out of a Wild Card spot with 55 left to play, manager Matt Quatraro needs to find whatever his players have been feeding off of to gather wins and continue to keep that belief going. What’s even more impressive is the fact that the KC has been able to accomplish this without the efforts of superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who remains sidelined on the 10-day injured list with lower back tightness.
They’ll have to survive without him a little while longer, but it helps that the starting pitching has really taken a jump, as well as a legendary few days for franchise great Salvador Perez. The 36-year-old catcher tied and eclipsed George Brett’s franchise home run record in a matter of days, now number one on the list with 318 moonshots and counting.
Is the Royals post All-Star break hot streak enough momentum for them to make noise?
Let’s say best case scenario, the Royals go 35-20 to finish the season. That would bring their overall record to 80-82, which, depending on how a number of competing teams fare, would give them about as good a chance as they could possibly hope for.
But the argumentative reasoning for believing Kansas City could actually pull off such an impressive stretch of baseball is hard to make, considering the roller coaster they’ve ridden all spring and summer. But as always, the team will keep competing to the max, which sometimes is all any of us fans could ask for.
Seth Lugo’s recent resurgence and Michael Wacha’s continuous All-Star-level play give hope to the pitching rotation, especially if Noah Cameron and Randy Dobnak can begin to pick up the slack. While the bullpen remains this team’s biggest concern, the Aug. 3 trade deadline may provide some answers in the form of added hitters, making the bullpen’s effect lessen over the course of 50-plus games.
The Royals will enjoy a deserved day off on Monday and then travel to Minnesota for a three-game standoff against the Twins. It’s another opportunity to make up some ground faster than usual if they can stay hot versus a division opponent.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kckingdom.com ’
