Blue Jays Series Summary (4/27-4/30)

The Royals won 3 out of 4 against the Toronto Blue Jays.  They are now 12-10 on the season and are in 1st place.

Monday 4/27
Matchup: David Purcey vs. Brian Bannister
Result: 7-1 Win
Brian Bannister pitched 7.0 innings and gave up only 1 hit and 1 run.  He struck out 2 and walked 6.  It was his second good start in a row, but even if he had pitched poorly, it still would have been better than another Horacio Ramirez start.  The 6 walks and the fact he threw only 53 of 103 pitches for strikes are a big concern and suggest the results of his start were a bit of a fluke.  The bullpen pitched 2 scoreless innings allowing only 1 hit.  The bats were led by Jose Guillen who had 3 hits including 2 HR.  Callaspo had the only other multi-hit game for the Royals.  As a team they hit .276 (8/29) with 8 walks, 1 triple, and 3 home runs.

Tuesday 4/28
Matchup: Scott Richmond vs. Gil Meche
Result: 8-1 Loss
Gil Meche was forced to leave the game early with back stiffness after pitching 3.2 ineffective innings.  He allowed 7 H, 5 R, 5 BB, and struck out only 2.  The bullpen did not fare much better giving up 7 hits and 3 R in 5.1 IP.  The offense hit .182 (6/33) for the game with only 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts.  David DeJesus was the only Royal to have a multi-hit game.

Wednesday 4/29
Matchup: Brian Tallet vs. Zack Greinke
Result: 11-3 Win
Zack Greinke gave up his 1st 2 earned runs of the season but still pitched an excellent game.  In 7.0 innings he allowed 5 hits and 2 walks to go along with the 2 runs.  He also struck out 8 Blue Jays.  The bullpen pitched 2.0 innings giving up 3 hits and 1 unearned run.  The bats helped Zack get his 5th win of the season hitting .385 (15/39) with 7 doubles, 1 triple, and 3 home runs.  Six Royals had multi-hit games including a huge game by Billy Butler who went 4-5 with 4 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, and 1 2B.

Thursday 4/30
Matchup: Brian Burres vs. Kyle Davies
Result: 8-6 Win
It was another iffy start for Davies as he struggled through 5.2 innings, but he kept his team in the game.  He gave up 7 H, 3 ER, and 3 BB without recording a SO.  The bullpen also struggled, but did just enough allowing 4 H and 3 R in 3.1 IP.  At the plate they hit .290 (9/31) with 5 walks, 3 doubles, and 3 triples.  Billy Butler had another multi-hit game going 2-3 with a walk, double, RBI, and 2 runs scored.  John Buck, however, was the star of the game going 3-3 with 5 RBI and 2 triples.

Series Impression:
The starting rotation threw 23.1 innings with a 4.24 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, and 12 SO.

In 12.2 innings of work the bullpen posted a 4.26 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and 11 SO.

For the series the Royals hit .288 (38/132) while drawing 19 walks and striking out 17 times.  They left 29 men on base while scoring 27 runs.  In the series they hit 12 2B, 5 3B, and 6 HR meaning an astounding 60% of their hits went for extra bases.  With runners in scoring position they hit .244 (10/41).

Their series at the plate is lessened just a little bit due to the fact that the Blue Jays pitching staff is decimated by injuries and the Royals didn’t have to face Roy Halladay.  The staff’s strikeout totals were way down against the Jays and their WHIP was up.  It will be interesting to see if those numbers become a trend or if it was just a case of the staff facing an excellent offensive team.

Upcoming Series:
Kansas City heads to Minnesota to face an 11-11 Twins team who gets Joe Mauer back on Friday.  On the season, the Twins have 93 RS and 116 RA. By comparison, the Royals have scored 97 runs and allowed 82.  They trail only the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have allowed only 75, for fewest runs allowed in all of MLB.  The Twins have the pitching advantage the first two games and have been the hotter of the 2 teams going 6-4 in their last 10 compared to Kansas City’s 5-5 record in their last 10.  The Twins have had the tougher schedule of the two teams and were without the best catcher in baseball for the first month.  If the Royals are able to take the series from the Twins while on the road, it would be their biggest accomplishment of the season.  The key for Kansas City is to get into the Minnesota bullpen, the Twins’ biggest weakness by far.
5/1 Sidney Ponson (0-3, 5.79) vs. Kevin Slowey (3-0, 4.44)
5/2 Brian Bannister (2-0, 0.69) vs. Glen Perkins (1-2, 2.48)
5/3 Gil Meche (1-2, 3.77) vs. Scott Baker (0-2, 9.82)