Royals Report: Friday’s Win And Hanging With The President

2) The Return Of The Three-Headed Bullpen Monster

Friday night, KC Royals manager Ned Yost got 2.1 shut down innings from the back end of his bullpen to finish out the game. It’s about time the three-headed bullpen monster did the job in Kansas City. 

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With the Royals scoring around 4.0 runs per game, they’re going to have to hold onto leads in the second half of the season if they’re to make a run at division-leader Cleveland. Either Luke Hochevar, Joakim Soria, or Brian Flynn is going to have to seize that seventh inning role so that the KC Royals can go back to dominating the late-innings by the time the playoffs roll around.

On Friday night, Hoch got the job done. Yet, we’ve seen both him and Joakim Soria look like they’ve overcome their troubles only to get blown up by opposing hitters.

While the KC Royals 3.13 ERA is still sixth best in MLB, they’ve fallen off from their earlier pace as the best bullpen in the league. That drop reflects the recent struggles of setup men Hochevar and Soria.

Somehow, Ned Yost has to figure out how to stop the bleeding and get back to dominating the late innings. Friday night was a good start.

Next: Hanging With The Prez