Cain, Kennedy dominant in (yet another) KC Royals win

Lorenzo Cain, eight other KC Royals conspire to aid Ian Kennedy in his first victory of 2017. Kennedy also retired 17 batters in a row to start the game, so he was no slouch either.

Ian Kennedy had not won a game since Sept. 11, 2016.

(Here is where new-school fancy pants Colby reminds you that wins are the most arbitrary measurement by which to judge a pitcher’s success. It’s also where old-school, press-pass in the hat Colby reminds you that at no time in baseball history has FIP determined the order of the league standings.)

The longer this season wore on, the more and more likely it became that Kennedy would get off the proverbial schneid; he’s no Bartolo Colon hanging on for dear life at the tail end of a career. Kennedy can still get it done, and he proved it in Friday’s 3-1 victory in California.

It’s impossible to overstate this, particularly given the struggles Kennedy has had this season: the man was absolutely cruising through the first 17 batters. Only three of the first 17 batters managed to put Kennedy into a three-ball count, and Kennedy didn’t need much help otherwise.

The help he got offensively would turn out to be more than enough.

And it all seemed to come from the bat of one Lorenzo Cain.

In the third, LoCain launched a rocket to left field to open the scoring.

In the fifth, a Cain single—the third in four KC Royals at-bats—brought home Alex Gordon to make it a 2-0 game.

Then in the eighth—after Cliff Pennington broke up the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout with a solo homer—Cain went yard yet again, his second on the night and eighth in 13 games. All that “Cain’s old, we have to re-sign one of the younger guys” hullaballoo has subsided, ever so slightly.

Cain didn’t do it all—I mean, he did most of it—but eight of nine KC Royals picked up a hit. Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar are sniffing the right side of the Mendoza Line for the first time in a while.

(Esky also made a nice play at short. I say nice in comparison to most other shortstops… it was pretty routine for Esky.)

Kennedy went six and allowed two hits, striking out four and only surrendering the Pennington homer as far as runs scored. Mike Minor, Joakim Soria and Kelvin Herrera allowed one run over the final three innings to preserve the victory—the sixth straight for the KC Royals.

(Minor, Soria and Herrera—not exactly HDH, but it’ll do.)

Next: Nobody knows anything about the draft

Jake Junis looks to run the win streak to seven tomorrow night against Alex Meyer. Action begins at 7:15 p.m. (CT) in Anaheim; game should be broadcast on FOX.