Royals split doubleheader with six-run sixth in the nightcap

The day started poorly, but by the time we had finished things were looking a bit brighter. Let’s talk about the afternoon game first.

Luinder Avila got his first major league start and, at times, you could see why the Royals are still so high on him as a starter. His stuff is electric, especially the fastball and curveball. But he can have some difficulty locating them. He only managed to go 3+ innings thanks to is inconsistent ability to throw strikes. Over that span he gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks. Garrett Mitchell did most of the damage with a two-run double in the first inning and a three-run home run in the third. He gave up some hits on some good pitches, but also threw too many pitches that were too easy to hit.

If the Royals could have cut the game off after the third inning and started over, it would have been a very different story. The bullpen didn’t allow any runs. Daniel Lynch IV and Alex Lange each pitched very effective two-inning relief appearances combining to strike out seven while allowing only one walk and two hits. John Schreiber gave up a couple of walks in the eighth, but didn’t give up any runs. With last night’s rainout, Steven Cruz was able to pitch in a third straight game and had a clean ninth.

The Royals’ offense put runners on base all day long but had extreme difficulty bringing them home. They had eight hits and six walks on the day but went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Popups continue to plague the team. In the third inning with runners at first and second with one out, Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez each popped up. In the fourth, with runners at second and third with one out, Nick Loftin popped out and Kyle Isbel had a shallow fly to left. The Royals scored both of their runs in the eighth when Loftin led off with a wall, Lane Thomas pinch hit for Isbel and smashed an RBI double, and Bobby Witt Jr. about took Brice Turang’s head off with a groundball to bring home Thomas. Vinnie Pasquantino struck out and Salvador Perez popped out to end the threat.

The Royals came into the day leading the league in popups and its unlikely that’s changed as they had several other popups even when runners weren’t in scoring position. I don’t necessarily expect that to continue to be an issue all year, but it’s certainly hurting them now. Last year, among batters with at least 400 plate appearances, the Royals had two players in the top 25 in popup percentage – Jonathan India and Isbel – and two more in the top 100; Witt and Pasquantino. So it wasn’t not a problem last year.

Now let’s talk about the second game.

It started off great with Seth Lugo keeping the Brewers off balance, though they were fouling a lot of balls off. In the second inning Salvador Perez led off with a single, one out later Jonathan India singled, and Carter Jensen hit a 2-RBI double in his first at-bat since the sleeping fiasco. His bat has been a bit quiet early this season, maybe the extra sleep did him some good.

Unfortunately, Seth Lugo could not put up a shutdown inning. He gave up a single, struck out the next two, and then Brice Turang swatted an RBI-triple to left and scored on a Garrett Mitchell double. If you’re keeping track at home, the Brewers scored all of their runs in both games with two outs. Fortunately he got Christian Yelich out on a soft liner to Maikel Garcia to end the threat. He struggled through two more innings but didn’t give up any more runs.

The Royals bats went quiet until the sixth inning, but when they woke up, they got loud.

Salvy smashed a one-out solo shot to left center to give the Royals the lead. Caglianone struck out on a filthy fastball at the bottom of the zone, but now it was the Royals’ turn to do some two out damage. India hit another single, then Carter Jensen singled, then Isaac Collins singled to give the Royals an insurance run. The Brewers brought in left-hander Jared Koenig to face the Royals hottest hitter to start the year, Kyle Isbel. Isbel was not deterred and drove in another run with a single. Maikel roped a double to left for another run. The Brewers intentionally walked Bobby, and then Jake Bauers booted Vinnie’s grounder to first for the Royals’ seventh run. A wild pitch allowed Garcia to score and led to Salvy also getting an intentional walk. Jac Caglianone had the ignominious distinction of being both the second and third out in the inning when he grounded out sharply to short. Just like that, the Royals went from a tense tie game with a malfunctioning offense to a big lead and their best relievers not having appeared since Wednesday and Thursday.

Nick Mears pitched a clean sixth to earn the win. Eli Morgan, the Royals 27th man, finished things off with a three-inning save. He struck out five while allowing only one walk and a hit. Really impressive stuff from him to protect a bullpen that had been burned by Wednesday’s mess and a doubleheader. The bullpen combined for 10 scoreless innings across the double-header. Just really good stuff all around.

The Royals have a chance to go for the series victory tomorrow. The game will feature a battle of southpaws. Kyle Harrison will go for Milwaukee and Kris Bubic will pitch for KC. The game will start at 1:10 Royals time and be aired on Royals.TV.