Game CXXXV: Royals at Astros

Kansas City looks to spit out yesterday’s hard luck loss

So, yeah. Yesterday was not fun.

According to BaseRuns, the 2024 Cleveland Guardians are 11 wins better than expected, and yesterday gave us a taste of why. Cleveland ended the day with 13 hits. Six of them had an exit velocity below 83 MPH.

Trailing by three runs in the 7th, Bo Naylor led off the inning with a homer, making it a 5-3 game. Back-to-back singles and a wild pitch put runners on the corners with nobody out with Lucas Erceg on the mound. The next five batters went like this.

• Jose Ramirez fly out. 80.3 MPH off the bat. One out. 5-3 Royals
• Josh Naylor single. 77.8 MPH off the bat. One out. 5-4 Royals.
• David Fry fly out. 82.5 MPH off the bat. Two outs. 5-4 Royals.
• Will Brennan single. 69.8 MPH off the bat. Two outs. 5-5 tie.
• Jhonkensy Noel single. 75.5 MPH off the bat. Two outs. 6-5 Guardians.

So yeah, some tough luck. Overall, the bullpen was unbelievable in the biggest series of the year. The much-maligned group gave up four runs across 18.2 innings in four games and Kansas City won three of them. A great series win that came with a sour ending.

The Royals will need to put it behind them quickly, continuing a brutal six-series stretch with a four-game set in Houston. They get Cleveland, Minnesota, and the Yankees next.

The Astros were horrific for the season’s first two months and were seven games under .500 as recently as June 18. However, they have been one of the best teams in baseball since June, with only Arizona winning more games than Houston’s 46 during that stretch. They have been struggling of late, however, losing six of their last nine games.

Kansas City sends Brady Singer to the mound, who has struggled mightily in August, with a 6.23 ERA in four starts. Here are your lineups for the series opener.

Oh, and Simone Biles throws out the first pitch tonight, for those who care about such things.