4×4: Kansas City Royals offense carries momentum into rout

The effects of the previous night’s walk-off win were felt early and often as the Kansas City Royals set a season-high run total to split a four-game series with the Tigers and renew hope of yet another turnaround.

For the better part of July, the Kansas City Royals offense has been capped at four runs. Since a 9-6, 10-inning win over Seattle on July 5, the Royals had yet to score even five runs in their subsequent nine games.

On Thursday, they scored four runs APIECE in the first, third, sixth and eighth innings of a 16-4 blowout win. According to the FSKC broadcast, it’s the first time in Royals history they have scored at least four runs in four separate innings.

Perhaps they were boosted by the momentum of Wednesday’s ninth-inning rally?

Perhaps they were boosted by a Detroit defense that didn’t show up until the second inning?

Perhaps they were just due?

Or perhaps it was a combination of all three.

Wednesday had the feeling of a skid-busting victory at the least and a season-changing win at the most. On Thursday, the Tigers committed three errors in the first inning, including on back-to-back plays to start the game. And a team of Major League Baseball players—more or less one with a World Series-winning core—should statistically score five-plus runs somewhere in a 10-game span.

A mere 48 hours ago, the Royals season was put on “life support” by an insightful new writer on this website. Now, it looks to have a much stronger pulse.

It’s amazing what a couple of wins will do.

To be fair, the Royals looked dead in the water after being crushed 10-2 and 9-3 in the first two games of this series. It was natural to think Wednesday’s 4-3, walk-off win would spark a winning streak, but then again those two blowouts were preceded by Sunday’s 4-3, walk-off win over Texas.

If the bottom of the order was the collective MVP on Wednesday, the entire lineup took home the honor on Thursday.

The team pounded out 19 hits, including seven apiece against starter Michael Fulmer and Chad Bell, who each threw just 2 2/3 innings. Every starter finished with a hit and either a run or an RBI. Six of them ended up with at least one of all three.

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Whit Merrifield and Eric Hosmer hit home runs—the former golfing one into the Royals bullpen and the latter crushing one 444 feet into the fountains. After scoring the winning run the night before, Brandon Moss drove in four runs. (That’s six RBI in two games after 16 total entering Wednesday.) Mike Moustakas had three hits and a trio of runs driven in.

Despite being handed an early 8-0 lead, Danny Duffy only lasted five-plus innings. He left with the score at 8-4 and the tying run on deck.

Mike Minor, though, came in and did what he did the entire first half of the season—but not the second half—and got out of the sixth inning unscathed.

After that scare, the Royals put up their third four-spot in the bottom of the frame and went into cruise control.

The Royals are now back to .500 (47-47) and—thanks to days off for Cleveland and Minnesota— within a game and a half of the American League Central lead.

With a division as weak across the board as the Central has been this season, it’s unsurprising yet sad in a way that the Royals are still in the thick of things. In all honesty, it doesn’t seem like any of the division’s teams would have more than a puncher’s chance in the playoffs at this point.

But you never know.

Next: Can the bullpen regain dominance?

As the Royals showed in 2014, all bets are off at that point. That’s why their goal is just to get to the postseason. A goal that seems much more realistic now than it did earlier this week.