MJ Melendez, as it turns out, was not the sole cause of the Royals’ early-season offensive ineptitude.
First, let’s highlight a couple of good days we saw at the plate today. Remember, we’re judging on a bit of a curve.
Winners
Jonathan India had a three-hit game, including a lead-off double in the eighth inning. He was stranded or removed via fielder’s choice every time he reached base, but that can hardly be blamed on him. He raised his bad OPS to a not-very-good .603. This was also the first time he played back-to-back games on the field since injuring his leg running out a groundball last weekend.
Drew Waters managed a pair of walks (and also a strikeout) on a day when the Royals had given him a small vote of confidence by demoting Melendez instead of him and giving him the start in left field. His OPS now stands at .422, but that’s better than Melendez or Hunter Renfroe. So.
Freddy Fermin had a pair of hits, including the only run driven in or scored on the day. Good for Freddy.
Seth Lugo didn’t pitch poorly today; he earned a quality start! But he did make one pitch that hurt him, a middle-middle splitter to Spencer Torkelson who destroyed it for a three-run bomb, all the runs the Tigers would need to defeat the pitiful Royals’ offense. Torkelson, by the way, now has seven home runs. The entire Royals’ team has only 11.
When the road trip began, many writers tried to set expectations and suggested that a 3-7 trip wouldn’t be the end of the world, a 4-6 trip would represent a really good effort by the boys in blue. The Royals, even if they somehow manage to defeat reigning Cy Young award-winner Tarik Skubal behind Michael Wacha tomorrow, will have only managed a 2-8 trip. 1-9 feels more likely. The team that made it to the playoffs last year in large part due to their ability to avoid long losing streaks, has now dropped six in a row. If the Twins defeat Atlanta, the Royals will fall back to fourth place in the division.
Things are quickly spiralling out of control.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two seasons alternately praising and defending manager Matt Quatraro as a guy who keeps his team focused and makes reasonable tactical decisions. The tactical decisions this season have been suspect and if the Royals don’t figure out something soon on offense, he might quickly find himself going from snubbed for Manager of the Year in 2024 to seated on an uncomfortably hot seat early in 2025.
Tomorrow’s game starts at 12:40 CDT, if anyone dares watch it.
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