Royals dominate on all fronts in 11-1 win on Brewers’ home opener

Great team victory!

Kansas City Royals fans were due a nice, easy breezy win after a tough opening series. Today, the Royals provided such a game, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 11-1 in a blowout contest where we saw it all. Dominant starting pitching? Check! Timely hits? Check! Solid baserunning, big dongs, big innings, the umps tossing an opposing coach from the game? Check, check, check!

Going into this game, I was a little antsy for a few reasons. Mainly, I always hate it when the Royals are playing a team on a losing streak. Stats aside, in those cases it just feels like the other team is poised to reverse it—you can’t lose every game, after all. And boy, did the Brewers stink in their first series against the New York Yankees. Aaron Judge, by himself, hit four home runs off the Brewers.

But it turns out that I was not correct. Against Elvin Rodriguez, the Royals struck quickly. Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. both singled, with Witt’s of the infield variety. For a second it seemed as if the Royals wouldn’t score, as Rodriguez got both Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez out. But Michael Massey shot a line drive opposite-field ground rule double. Then, Hunter Renfroe of all people notched a single to score and give Kris Bubic a 3-0 lead.

Today was a long time coming for Bubic, who last started a game two years ago before tearing his UCL which required Tommy John surgery. Last year Bubic was excellent out of the pen, but his first few starts of 2023 was so good that you wondered if he had finally turned the corner as a starter.

The great news for the Royals is that, yeah, it sure as heck seems like Bubic is back. Bubic immediately struck out the first three Brewers he faced.

Compared to his last full year as a starter in 2022, Bubic has added some life to his fastball and overhauled his pitch mix to feature a sweeper. Today, it worked beautifully. Just once did Bubic encounter some difficulty. In the second inning, the Brewers loaded the bases with a walk and a pair of singles. Fortunately, Bubic induced a ground ball to first baseman Mark Canha to end the threat.

Overall, Bubic pitched six scoreless innings, striking out eight and limiting the Brewers to just three hits. It was the outing the Royals needed.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Royals added a fourth run in the second inning off the screaming hot bat of Maikel Garcia, who destroyed a middle-middle fastball and sent it to left-center field.

For a while, the game’s score remained stagnant. The Royals had some changes in the fifth and sixth innings, and I wondered if that would come back to bite them later.

It...did not, not even a little bit. The seventh inning kicked off with Salvador Perez’s first home run of the year, a towering shot that barely stayed in play around the left field foul pole.

Kansas City would go on to score five additional runs in the inning. Massey and MJ Melendez singled, Canha walked, and Garcia walked to score a run. India and Witt hit consecutive singles to score three more, and then an errant throw by Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins allowed a final run to score. 10-0, Royals.

From there, it was just playing out the string. Angel Zerpa gave up a run. Pinch hitter Cavan Biggio singled in Canha to erase it two innings later. Tyler Tolbert made his debut, with a plate appearance (a strikeout) and some defense in center field. Daniel Lynch IV was solid. And boom, there ya go!

The Royals play their first evening game tomorrow against the Brewers. Start time is 6:40 CST, and it’s available on FanDuel Sports Network.