Royals Report: 5 Things About Collapse In Toronto

5) Ian Kennedy Gets It Done On The Road

Probably the most hopeful development of Wednesday’s game is that Ian Kennedy produced a dominant performance on the road. In 6.0 innings, Kennedy allowed a mere 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 earned runs with 10 strikeouts.

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That excellent start stands in contrast to Kennedy’s 3-6, 5.37 ERA and 7.6 K/9 on the road coming into Wednesday’s game. Though he left the game trailing 2-1, Brett Eibner‘s solo home run in the seventh inning took Kennedy off the hook and left him with a no decision.

The more interesting factoid from Kennedy’s splits is that his strikeouts per nine has been much higher at home (10.8 K/9) vs. away (7.6 K/9). That’s a statistic that shouldn’t much be affected by park factors. On Wednesday, one big reason that Kennedy performed contrary to his splits was his ability to miss bats in Toronto.

Overall, the strong game caused Kennedy’s ERA to dip from 4.04 to 3.97. It’s not a huge drop, but getting under 4.00 somehow makes him look a lot less mediocre. Talk about a weird fixation on whole numbers. But, I think a lot of people suffer from the same mental tick.

Next: Road Offense