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Kansas City goes 2-7 during seven game Quality Start streak

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Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

By now, the issue is agreed upon unanimously. The problem is the bullpen. Royals relievers have only managed to produce eleven saves and a 47.62 save percentage, the worst in the league. However, Kansas City’s starters threw seven consecutive quality starts before Saturday night’s victory over the Twins. Needless to say, the difficulties the Royals face come with finishing games.

Brad Keller is tied at sixth overall for quality starts this season. The seven-game streak started with his outing on June 8th against the White Sox. Keller threw eight innings, giving up five hits, including an opposite-field two-run homer. As Ned Yost said in the post-game interview, Keller only had one mistake–one pitch. This time, the Royals came up short offensively, continuing a trend of inconsistency.

Jorge Soler leads the team in home runs, but he also leads the MLB in strikeouts. That’s why his Runs Above Replacement (RAR) is 2, but his Wins Above Replacement (WAR) barely breaks even. On June 8th, the designated hitter went 0-4, striking three times looking. But the problem is bigger than Soler. The core of Kansas City’s scoring, Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi, went just 2-4 and 0-4 respectively. June 8th, in-coincidentally, was Lucas Giolito’s best outing of the season. Chicago’s ace pitched seven and two-thirds scoreless innings recording a career-high eleven strikeouts. No Royal looked good at the plate.

Kansas City Royals-Twitter

Both of Kansas City’s wins during the Quality Start stretch came against the Detroit Tigers, making the Royals 1-19 in their last twenty series. Offense was the deciding factor in both wins. As always there were a few bullpen scares, but Kansas City managed to secure two victories over Detroit. On the 11th, the Royals flipped the script and scored two big runs on hits from Mondesi and Jorge Soler. Kansas City rose to the occasion in Omaha two days later winning 7-3 off the bats of Merrifield, Cheslor Cuthberg, Martin Maldonado, and Nicky Lopez. All three of the Tigers’ runs came in the last three innings with Jorge Lopez, Kevin McCarthy, and Wily Peralta giving up one run each before Ian Kennedy recorded the save and secured the series win.

It seems that some games, Kansas City record six runs headed into the eighth only to be overshadowed by the bullpen. Other games, the bullpen looks tight and focused, but the Royals fail to put the ball in play. As of late, it’s been both. Thursday night marked the first game the Royals have won after having the lead going into the eighth inning.

For Kansas City, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. If it’s not the bullpen, it’s the offense–if it’s not the offense, it’s relievers. The one constant in the month of June has been the starters. June so far has offered a more promising winning percentage than the beginnings of the first three months of the season. While the playoffs are unimaginable at this point, being a .500 team isn’t–June can be that turning point.

Kansas City Star

Tuesday night in Seattle, the Royals secured their first road series victory with a 9-0 shutout. Everything went right for Kansas City–offensively the Royals capitalized on the Mariner’s struggling starter Yusei Kikuchi; Merrifield went 3-4 with two home runs and six RBIs; Homer Bailey secured a quality start with zero runs, five hits, six strikeouts, and two walks over seven and two thirds innings; Jorge Lopez and Kevin McCarthy both helped cement the Royal’s victory recording the last four outs in 19 pitches giving up one hit, no walks, and dealing two strikeouts.

Kansas City is looking for a win Wednesday night to sweep the Mariners. If they succeed, it will be the Royals’ first sweep of 2019.

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