Royals Report: 3 Things About KC’s Comatose Day In Cleveland

The Royals dropped their second straight game to division rival Cleveland, falling 6-1 on Friday night at Jacobs Field.

The KC Royals dropped to 30-24 on the season, and their AL Central lead dwindled to 1/2 game over Cleveland. The Indians boosted their record to 29-24, and took over second place in the AL Central with a Chicago loss.

The Kansas City Royals played their second sloppy game on the road. After blowing their first post-seventh inning lead of the season in Thursday’s 5-4 loss, the KC Royals continued to make blunders that helped the Indians on Friday. Though they allowed only one unearned run, Kansas City’s negligent play helped the Indians take a commanding 6-1 lead into the ninth inning and cut off their chances to rally.

Frankly, it has been a bit startling to see such bad play after a long string of excellent, even championship caliber, baseball from our Boys In Blue.

On to my observations about Friday’s game:

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2) Danny Salazar Cools Off Royals Hot Bats

The Kansas City Royals came into Friday’s game riding a streak of 10 or more hits in each of their last 10 games. The KC Royals offense had scored 68 runs over that 10 game stretch for a very healthy 6.8 runs per game.

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On Friday, Danny Salazar held the Kansas City Royals to three hits over 8.0 innings, allowing only 1 earned run (HR by Drew Butera), 5 walks, and striking out 9.

Certainly, Kansas City’s patience at the plate was a bit unusual, but the lack of hits made the Royals look listless and moribund while losing their second straight game in Cleveland. That’s pretty much what happens when a pitcher is on his game like Salazar was on Friday night.

Throw in the fact that one of the three Kansas City Royals hits involved Cheslor Cutbert getting thrown out at second base while trying to stretch a single into a double in the seventh inning with KC trailing 5-1, and you have an very punchless night at the plate.

Yes, the KC Royals played poorly on Friday night. Drew Butera’s wild throw past third base on Jose Ramirez‘s steal in the eighth inning allowed Ramirez to score an unearned run. Cuthbert’s baserunning mistake squandered a leadoff hit in the seventh when the Kansas City Royals desperately needed baserunners in a game that was still within reach. Volquez’s wild pitch allowed Mike Napoli to score the third run in Cleveland’s three-run third inning. But what truly made them look dead was their inability to make contact against Salazar.

Next: Road Trip

1) Royals Need A Good Road Trip

The Kansas City Royals slogged through an awful 4 and 12 stretch at the end of April and the beginning of May that they blamed on playing 16 games in 17 days with only three home games and flipping from the west to east coast. Now, the KC Royals have lost their first two games of their current 10-game road trip.

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The Kansas City Royals are an awful 11-17 on the road.

The KC Royals need to turn things as a visiting team pretty soon, or else they risk getting into their heads that they can’t play on the road. That would be a rather bad thing, since the Kansas City Royals play two more games against Cleveland on Saturday and Sunday, and then travel to tough Baltimore for a three game set, before finishing with four games against another AL Central division rival in Chicago.

If the KC Royals don’t get it together soon, they can sink back down the AL Central standings very quickly. The good news is that the current road excursion is the team’s annual Father’s Day trip, and the Kansas City Royals have a good track record when they bring along their Dads. Is that really surprising? EVERY kid wants to play well in front of their Dad, even if they’re a professional baseball player in the major-leagues.

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Here’s to the Dads helping their sons nipping a losing streak in the bud before it can get started.

The KC Royals will send Ian Kennedy to the mound (4-3, 3.03 ERA) for game 3 of the four game set in Cleveland. The Indians will counter with Josh Tomlin (7-1, 3.79 ERA) 6:15 CST at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio, June 4, 2016.