Royals Report: 5 Things About Tampa Bay Sweep

The KC Royals reeled off their sixth straight victory, and second consecutive series sweep, with a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The Kansas City Royals move to 30-22, and have opened a two game lead over the second place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. The Tampa Bay Rays fall to 22-29 and last place in the AL East.

The KC Royals came roaring out of the gate with two runs in each of the first two innings, before the Rays responded with single runs in the third, fifth, and sixth to pull within one run at 4-3.

The Kansas City Royals then scratched out single tallies in the bottom of the sixth and seventh to take a comfortable 6-3 lead. Kansas City’s three-headed bullpen monster of Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera, and Wade Davis did their thing to nail down the victory.

On to my five observations about Wednesday’s game:

Next: Danny Duffy

4) The Offense Isn’t Just Hot, It’s Wired On Red Bull

The Royals have more than 10 hits in their last nine games. They’ve also score five runs or more in that string and scored a total of 64 runs. That’s a tidy 7 runs per game average that pretty much will guarantee a bushel of wins.

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The KC Royals are 8-1 over that stretch, and have won six straight games.

Notice that all of this began the day AFTER the Kansas City Royals lost both left fielder Alex Gordon and third baseman Mike Moustakas to a collision in Chicago.

On Wednesday night, the KC Royals plated six runs despite hitting only two extra base hits (doubles by Alcides Escobar and Whit Merrifield).

Lorenzo Cian led the way with three hits on the night, helped out by two-hit games from Merrifield and Kendrys Morales. Even Kendrys is joining the hit parade, with two consecutive two-hit games.

If the ice-cold Morales can get it going, look out.

Paulo Orlando went 0-4 to snap his 12-game hitting streak, which leaves Merrifield’s 11 game string the longest active streak on the team. Merrifield has stroked a hit in each of his first 11 games in a Kansas City Royals uniform, which is a club record.

Next: Perfect Homestand

3) Perfect  6-0 Homestand  

The Kansas City Royals won all six games in their current homestand, sweeping both the White Sox and Rays in succession. It’s the first time the KC Royals have had a perfect homestand of six or more games since a 7-0 string in 1988.

Twenty-eight years is a freaking long time.

Of course, this homestand should have been seven games except the White Sox and Royals suffered a rainout on Thursday. Frankly, the White Sox were probably lucky. The way the KC Royals hitters are seeing the ball, the weather saved Chicago another loss.

 Really, it was a pretty eventful string of games. We saw catcher Salvador Perez get helped from the field by trainers and rookie Brett outfielder Brett Eibner carted out on a tractor. Fortunately, neither suffered serious injury, though they are missing games.

Add in three straight late-inning comebacks against the White Sox to carry the Kansas City Royals from third to first place in the AL Central, which included the greatest ninth inning comeback in franchise history by overcoming a six run deficit against the White Sox.

Next: On The Road Again

2) Can KC Keep The Train Rolling On The Road?

Beginning Friday, the KC Royals will play 10 road games in a 11 days against Cleveland, Baltimore, and Chicago. The series in Cleveland is a four-game set, and along with the three games in Chicago, will give the Royals a chance to put some space between them and the rest of the AL Central.

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Though the Kansas City Royals are tied with the Chicago Cubs for the best home record in baseball at 19-7, the Royals are only 11-15 on the road. It was the long 12 road games out of 15 string that triggered a two-week swoon for Kansas City.

The KC Royals slumped to 4-11 over that stretch that saw them fly to the west coast, return to Kansas City for a three game series against Washington,and then fly to the east coast to play the Indians and Yankees.

Here’s to hoping that the Kansas City Royals poor play over those 15 games occurred because of fatigue rather than some kind of recurring problem with playing on the road.

At the very least the KC Royals will begin the trip red hot. But I think all of us Royals fans wish they could keep on playing right here at home.

Next: Bullpen

1) Bullpen Is Again The Best In Baseball

Last winter, the Yankees and Red Sox attempted to build super pens to compete with the three headed monster in Kansas City by adding Aroildis Chapman (Yankees) and Draig Kimbrel (Red Sox).

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• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Expectations met
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Day 3 update

Well, guess who’s leading all of major league baseball with a 2.43 ERA? Yep. Our very own Kansas City Royals. They’re also 23-0 when leading after seven innings.

Despite some early bobbles, Joakim Soria has righted the ship and has lowered his ERA from over 6.00 in April to a perfectly respectable 3.20 ERA. Soria hasn’t given up a run in his last 15.0 innings, including last night’s seventh inning stint which saw him strand two baserunners with two consecutive strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Kelvin Herrera has become just as effective as Wade Davis ever since he added a devastating slider to his fastball/change-up combo.

Wade Davis is, well, Wade Davis. Davis notched his 16th save Wednesday night (against one blown save) and carries a minuscule 0.89 ERA. If he finishes the season at his current pace, he will become their first pitcher to throw 70 or more innings with an ERA at or below 1.00 each year.

Next: KC Royals Shuffle Roster After Eibner Placed On 15-Day DL

Add in fabulous depth pieces like fireman Luke Hochevar, funky throwing sidewinder Peter Moylan, and sinkerball pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, and the KC Royals enjoy great depth.

Bullpens are supposed to be inconsistent. But not in Kansas City.