Royals Report: 3 Things About Game 2 Loss vs. Boston

The Royals failed to pull off the double-header sweep by losing the second game 5-2 to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The loss drops the KC Royals to .500 at 20-20, while the Red Sox climbed to 25-16. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Royals.

Tne night saw the two Kansas City Royals debut in the big leagues, as well as a solo bomb from catcher Salvador Perez. Paulo Orlando continued to hit, going 1 for 2 with a walk to push his average to .340 and secure his hold on the right field job.

As long as he keeps hitting, Orlando is going to keep Jarrod Dyson on the bench and prevent the KC Royals from calling up hot hitting AAA outfielders Brett Eibner and Jorge Bonifacio.

For the Red Sox, center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. extended his hitting streak to 24 games with his seventh home run in the second inning off Edinson Volquez. Bradley’s streak is the longest one in MLB so far this season.

Forty-year-old David Ortiz likely played his last game at Kauffman Stadium in game 2, since he’s announced he will retire at the end of the season during spring training. The Boston DH is a probable inductee into the MLB Hall-Of-Fame at Cooperstown with 513 home runs in his career and multiple post-season heroics to his credit.

On to my observations about Wednesday’s disappointing game 2:

Next: Whit Merrifield

1) Whit Merrifield Call Up Was A Bit Strange

The KC Royals announced that they had optioned infielder Christian Colon, who had started game1, to Omaha and promoted infielder Whit Merrifield to Kansas City.

Since Merrifield was not on the 40-man roster, the Kansas City Royals had to make room for him and chose designate AAA outfielder Jose Martinez for assignment.

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Martinez, who won the Pacific Coast League batting title by hitting .384 for AAA Omaha in 2015, had been heating up after a slow start to the 2016 season. It’s a big odd that the KC Royals would simply discard him when he was hitting .298/.356/.433.

Yes, Jose Martinez is 28-years-old. Many don’t see him as a real prospect. But he’s a guy that might be able to hit at the major-league level.  I’m guessing the Kansas City Royals might be trading him for cash or a low level prospect rather than simply allowing another team that needs an outfielder in the high minors claim him for free.

The 27-year-old Merrifield was hitting .278/.342/.458 at Omaha, which doesn’t seem a whole lot better than Martinez’s numbers. Yet, scouts don’t just look at results, Some guys are AAAA players who are able to thrive at AAA but don’t have the bat speed to succeed in the major-leagues.

Also, Merrifield’s major appeal is that he can play every position on the field except catcher, many of them with plus defense. That almost makes him a perfect utility man. In many ways, his pedigree is much like another versatile, but unheralded prospect named Ben Zobrist—who became a hugely valuable player in the major leagues (including the second half of 2015 with the Royals).

Merrifield did manage to collect his first major-league hit while starting in left field in game 2 Wednesday night.

Good job, Whit. Hope there are many more to come.

Next: Alec Mills

3) Again The Royals Had Trouble Getting Out Of The Sixth

On Tuesday, Yordano Ventura was looking good after giving up only one run through the first five innings. However, he ran into trouble with two outs in the sixth inning allowing a three-run bomb to Boston third baseman Travis Shaw.

The home run turned a comfortable 5-1 lead into a narrow 5-4 margin, eventually prompting Ned Yost to bring in reliever Luke Hochevar to escape the inning.

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In game 1 of Wednesday’s double-header, Ian Kennedy again showed good stuff in the early going only to run into trouble in the sixth inning. Staked to an early 2-0 lead due to Eric Hosmer‘s two-run shot in the first inning, Kennedy allowed the tying score in the sixth before getting pulled in favor of lefty Brian Flynn to get the last out of the sixth.

In game 2, Edinson Volquez had allowed only two runs through the first five innings before the Red Sox started a two-out rally that saw them load the bases. Volquez then gave up a two-run single on a grounder up the middle that gave the Red Sox a commanding 4-1 lead.

The fact is, the Red Sox lineup is simply too good for even pitchers with good stuff to get through their lineup a third time.

Despite the loss, the KC Royals have to feel good about winning their second consecutive series and cooling off a Red Sox team that came to Kauffman Stadium with 24-14 record.

Click below to get three observations about game 1 of Wednesday’s double-header:

Next: Royals Report: Three Things About KC's Game 1 Win Over Boston

Game 2: The KC Royals will send Dillon Gee (0-1, 3.12 ERA) to the mound against Carlos Quintana (5-2, 1.54 ERA) for the Chicago White Sox 7:10 CST at US Cellular Field in Chicago, IL Friday, May 19.