2 positives, 1 negative from next-to-last KC Royals exhibition game

The Kansas City Royals, working their way back from spring training in Arizona to Kauffman Stadium for a March 27 Opening Day date with the Cleveland Guardians, stopped over in Arlington Monday night for the first of two exhibition games with the Texas Rangers. KC starter Michael Wacha must accept a good bit of responsibility for his club's 6-3 loss, but the night wasn't totally discouraging. It offered, in fact, a couple of encouraging highlights.

But let's take Wacha first.

His spring training struggles continued for Michael Wacha

Wacha, a key component t of last season's good starting rotation who parlayed his 13-8, 3.35 ERA campaign into a new three-year, $51 million contract, couldn't shake his preseason troubles. Working 4.2 innings as part of the build-up to his scheduled March 30 start against the Guardians in Cleveland, Wacha gave up three runs, all on solo homers — including a leadoff blast by Marcus Semien in the Texas first — and put his club in a hole it couldn't escape.

That he struck out eight and walked only one is good, but the eight homers he's coughed up this spring aren't. And after surrendering 14 runs(12 earned) across 13 innings in the four starts he'd made before Monday, Wacha finishes the exhibition season with a concerning 7.64 ERA.

He has some work to do before that start in Cleveland.

Angel Zerpa pitched well again for the KC Royals

Zerpa entered Monday night's game in the sixth but didn't stick around long. Although he needed 21 pitches — a total pushed beyond what it should have been when Ezequiel Durán reached first base on third baseman Harold Castro's two-out error — to do it, Zerpa dispatched the Rangers without damage. He struck out Adolis Garcia and retired Jake Burger on a fly ball before Durán reached base, then finished his night's work by fanning Josh Smith.

For Zerpa, the inning was much like the others he's worked this spring. In nine frames in the same number of appearances, he's yielded only two hits and struck out nine. More importantly, he hasn't been charged with a single run or walked a batter.

Now a lock for the Royals' Opening Day roster, and assuming he doesn't pitch in Kansas City's final exhibition game against Texas, Zerpa will finish spring training with near-perfect numbers across the board. And that bodes well for him and the club.

Mark Canha is making sure he's noticed

The newest Royal after general manager J.J. Picollo swung a March 21 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers to get him, Canha went 2-for-3 and drove in a run Monday night. That nice effort came on the heels of the perfect 3-for-3 Kansas City debut he enjoyed on March 22 against the Rangers.

Bringing his bat to life — he was hitting a dismal .087 for the Brewers before the trade — comes at an excellent time for Canha and the Royals. Because he's acquired a good bit of experience at first base during his 10-year big league career, Canha is the obvious choice to fill in at first if Vinnie Pasquantino's recent hamstring injury causes him to miss any early-season time.