Before the season started, the Royals moved the fences in. The idea was that it would balance the offensive profile of Kauffman Stadium to be a bit closer to the league average. One thing that many people discussed was that it might lead to more home runs but fewer doubles. You would not have known that from how the Royals hit last night. Tonight, we’ll see if they can do some more of it against their hated cross-state rivals.
Seth Lugo is scheduled to make his first start since taking an absolutely terrifying line drive off of his forehead that deflected into right field. There is absolutely no telling how he’ll look tonight, but I think we can all agree we’re very glad that he doesn’t appear to have suffered more harm from the play. Also, would you believe that this is Lugo’s first start against the Cardinals as a member of the Royals? He last faced them in August of 2023 as a member of the Padres when he pitched six innings and allowed three runs, two earned. It would be swell if he’d pitch similarly tonight.
Lugo was re-added to the roster from the 7-day IL when Mason Black was demoted back to Omaha this morning.
The Cardinals will counter with Michael McGreevy, a name I absolutely cannot say without attempting an awful Irish accent. Michael has a sparkling 2.99 ERA so far this year, but he barely strikes anyone out. His saving grace is that he also doesn’t walk many. He is a little like a Lugo-light in that he features a seven-pitch mix, six of which he throws at least 10% of the time, and doesn’t have any kind of dominant put-away pitch. Of course, Lugo has 9+ pitches, and he throws his in the strike zone far more often. Hopefully, that kind of variety and marksmanship can be part of the winning difference in tonight’s contest.
There’s no getting around it; that’s a rough lineup. The Royals are without Bobby Witt Jr., who exited last night’s game early with a recurrence of the knee injury he’s been dealing with for several weeks now. Maikel Garcia is also MIA with an injury, so Tyler Tolbert will get his third start of the season, but first at shortstop. With Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel on the IL, the Royals are now missing nearly half of their Opening Day lineup.
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