Game Observations 35: Royals Down Orioles

 The KC Royals started their series off against the AL East leaders in great fashion with a very close 3-2 win.

Winning 4 of 5, the KC Royals are back on the right track. After taking 3 of 4 from the struggling Tampa Bay Rays, the Royals continued their streak against AL East teams. Here are three observations from today’s game.

Brandon Moss Flashes the Power

Hey! Brandon Moss got a hit! A homer actually. His fifth home run of the year propelled the KC Royals to a 2-1 lead.

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This homer was a dead-red bomb to high-center field. This is what the KC Royals paid Brandon Moss to do. We’d knew the strikeouts would be there, but a more consistent streak of games for Moss could end up doing wonders for this offense.

Remember too, Moss is a very streaky hitter. He can have terrible months, like this April. But, he can have months where he tears the cover off the ball. Take last June for example. He hit for a slashline of .333/.407/.792 that month.

Danny Duffy Puts Together Another Good Start

After starting the year hot, Danny Duffy scuffled in two starts, both against the Chicago White Sox. But now he has put together two good starts, one against Cleveland, one tonight.

Duffy finally got a strikeout game going. He struck out six Orioles in seven solid innings. This start reminded me a lot of the 2016 Danny Duffy.

Alex Gordon Injury

In the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs, Jorge Bonifacio came to pinch-hit for Alex Gordon against reliever Mychal Givens, taking a walk. This was mysterious as the moment, as nobody knew why Gordon was removed from the game.

Quickly after, we figured out Gordon had been removed due to a slight groin strain. The severity of this injury has yet to be known, but early indications don’t scream anything that is severely serious.

It could end up resulting in a quick DL move for Gordo. Maybe that could be something he needs, holding a wRC+ of 33.

KC Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles: Series Breakdown and Prediction

Check out our series breakdown and prediction for more info relating on the upcoming KC Royals games against the Orioles.