Coming into the series finale with the Guardians, the Royals were reeling. They were riding high after a 5-2 home stand but were about to face their biggest challenge this season.
Friday started a 10-game road trip facing playoff-caliber teams every night. Cleveland was the first challenger in the Royals’ way, and the Guardians had the Royals’ number through two games.
Cleveland outscored the Royals 13-3 coming into Sunday afternoon’s rubber game. The Royals looked lifeless. No aura whatsoever. They needed a spark to breathe life back into their clubhouse.
Enter Cole Gatlin Ragans. He took the ball and didn’t flinch a muscle against this stout Guardian lineup until his day was finished in the 8th inning.
Trust me, I thought about it. I thought about it. But we’ve got some good guys in the back end there. They know what they’re doing
-Cole Ragans on his near complete game
On a day that saw Rory Mcllroy win the Masters, Ragans turned in his own masterpiece on the bump.
Ragans was on some cyborg-type stuff. He got roughed up a bit in the 2nd, but his defense behind let him down and gave up an unearned run due to an arrant throw from Witt Jr on a play at the plate. Ragans still found a way to work around that debacle to strike out three in the inning.
He would then strike out the side in the 4th and the 5th. His six straight strikeouts were something to behold. I haven’t seen a Royal pitch like that since Zach Greinke.
He ended his afternoon with 10 punchies across 7.2 innings. It was exactly what the doctor ordered for a team that needed something to go right.
The Royals received bad news about two of their relievers this weekend, with Hunter Harvey and Sam Long landing on the 15-day IL. The Royals called up lefty Evan Sisk from AAA in a corresponding move.
Jonathan India also did not play on Sunday after leaving the game on Saturday with reported right quad tightness.
But Ragans did what aces do. They take the ball and put the team on their back. He was willing to carry the Royals to the finish line himself, and Quartraro almost let him go the distance. He was at 89 pitches, struck out the first hitter he saw, and got the second hitter to pop out. If not for tightness in his hamstring, Q would likely let him finish the game.
Erceg and Estévez nailed things down to finish off the Guardians and salvage the series. Estévez now sits 2nd in the league with his fifth save.
So Cole is the star of this game and earns my Dude of the Night award, which no one cares about but me. But this is his 2nd one, the most on the team. He’s been their most important player in this early stretch, and it’s not even up for debate.
As for the offense, it wasn’t a great performance, but it was a step in the right direction.
Salvy hit a 2-run bomb in the 4th that finally gave the boys—and himself—some momentum. Perez has been scuffling at the plate and is off to a slow start, only slashing .167/.259/.292 in his last seven games. Hopefully, that blast will be the start of a nice hot streak.
Maikel was back in his old leadoff spot and looked very comfortable. He had his first three-hit game of the season including a 2-run double in the 5th.
That was all the scoring the Royals managed, but I’m not complaining about four runs. They’ve scored three runs or less in 56% of their games, so four was a gift from the heavens. However, they did leave some meat on the bone that needs to be addressed.
The fifth and seventh innings stand out.
Maikel clears the bases with a double. It’s 4-2, and there’s still only one out with Garcia at 2nd. With his speed, a simple ground ball up the middle would score him easily, and that’s how you keep the line moving. The Royals had a chance to open that game up and pound the Guardians into submission early. Isbel and Garcia hit doubles back to back, and the inning looked like it was about to get ugly with the heart of the order for the Royals coming up.
Bobby grounds out on two pitches and Vinnie grounds out on four.
The seventh inning put me in an even worse mood. After back-to-back singles from Isbel and Garcia, we had runners on 1st and 3rd. Even with two outs, you expect your best hitter to drive in that man from 3rd. Bobby comes up and misses a first-pitch middle-middle slider and pops it up.
We can be upset about MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe until we’re blue in the face. They both punched out a pair of times and looked lost at the plate. I tweeted that Melendez should plead to the MLB to create a designated fielder position because he is not enjoyable to watch trying to hit the baseball.
But if the Royals are going to be a better team than they were last season, they aren’t going to do it with Bobby, Vinnie, and Salvy struggling collectively. They need their big dogs to eat. They need to come through in run-producing situations. The other guys did their part. Bobby Witt Jr and Vinnie Pasqauntino didn’t have great at-bats today. Obviously, I’m not worried about either two, but it’s just something to keep in mind. We need those guys to be studs all year. We can’t afford for one of them to have a down year.
That goes for Michael Massey, who has also gotten off to a slow start, slashing .154/.154/.192 in his last seven games. He’s supposed to be our 5-hitter guys. That’s not good.
So I’m looking at Bobby, Vinnie, Salvy, and Massey right now, like, when are y’all going to figure it out? We have places to go this year and need them on board.
It was cool to get the win, but damn it, we only got one out of three. This offense needs to wake up, and a date with the Yankees in New York might be just the prescription the Royals’ bats need to rejuvenate the vibes.
It’s Seth Lugo vs Carlos Carrasco on Monday night—6:05 pm first pitch.
Bank On It! 
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