Kansas City Royals: Best Individual 2017 Game Performances

There were plenty of wonderful individual performances for the Kansas City Royals this year. Some were flashes in the pan; others came from the team’s stars. Here are our top picks.

As a whole, the Kansas City Royals had several disappointing players in 2017. But even some of the disappointing players put together stellar individual games.

We decided to highlight those performances, as well as the best ones from the team’s good players. So basically we are taking all 162 games and picking some of the top individual games over the course of the season.

To make this exercise a little more intriguing, we chose to select exactly four performances out of each month. We also stipulated that every starting position player from the main second-half lineup have at least one performance chosen. There was also the stipulation that at least five different starting pitchers have a game selected. (We actually ended up with six different starters—believe it or not.)

For this exercise, we chose to ignore relief pitchers. Their performances, while obviously important to the outcome of a given game, are much harder to judge in a larger context.

When filling out the months, a few things became clear:

1. Great individual performances can happen any time, but they are more likely to occur during stretches of great play by the entire team. As evidenced by us struggling to find enough examples in months like April and September, but then having a surplus of performances in June.
2. Pitching carried the team early on, and the offense did the heavy lifting the final few months.
3. A vast majority of the best performances came at home, where the Kansas City Royals went 43-38.

Without further ado, here are the performances that made the cut.

April’s Top Performances

The first thing that pops out about the month of April is the absolute dearth of great offensive performances. It’s not hard to understand why when you see the Kansas City Royals had a putrid 7-16 record in the opening month. That includes nine straight losses to end the month.

The ironic thing, especially given that awful mark, is that there were plenty of great pitching performances in April. In fact, the four we settled on all occurred on the first homestand of the season—all within the same week.

Jason Vargas on April 13 vs. Athletics

The Kansas City Royals entered this game with a 2-6 record and consecutive losses to open up their first homestand. That’s when Jason Vargas gave a glimpse of what his 2017 season would be like, particularly the first half.

Facing Oakland, Vargas spun 7 2/3 scoreless innings in the 3-1 win. The lefty struck out eight against four hits and one walk. It set off a remarkable run of starting pitching performances.

Danny Duffy on April 14 vs. Angels

Good pitching can be just as contagious as good hitting. Danny Duffy showed that when he metaphorically took the ball from Vargas to start the next night against the Angels.

The team’s unquestioned ace allowed a single run over seven frames. Not quite as flawless as Vargas had been, Duffy allowed three hits and two walks against six strikeouts in a 7-1 victory.

Ian Kennedy on April 16 vs. Angels

After a quality start by Nate Karns on April 15, Ian Kennedy continued the superb run of Kansas City Royals pitching the following day. It shows even bad players can have good games every now and then.

In undoubtedly his best start of the season, Kennedy struck out 10 over eight shutout innings. In a 1-0 win, the overpaid righty gave up just two hits and two walks.

Vargas on April 19 vs. Giants

Following a day off, Matt Cain out-dueled Jason Hammel in Whit Merrifield‘s debut. The next night, Vargas put together a second incredible start within a week.

This time around he was just as good against another Bay Area opponent in a 2-0 win. Against the Giants, Vargas punched out nine, walked none and allowed just four hits over seven scoreless frames.

May’s Top Performances

After an atrocious April, the Kansas City Royals improved significantly in May. A 15-14 record in the season’s second month helped stabilize a campaign that appeared headed for disaster.

Even still, the offense had yet to find its groove. That means the month still featured more great pitching performances than offensive ones.

Nate Karns on May 3 vs. White Sox

This is the kind of performance that had few people questioning the offseason Jarrod Dyson trade that brought Karns to the Kansas City Royals—at least until his season-ending injury.

On this date, Karns made easy work of American League Central Division rival Chicago. He only allowed one hit and one walk each in six shutout innings. Karns even fanned seven batters in the 6-1 victory.

Duffy on May 18 vs. Yankees

This is Duffy’s second early appearance on this list. This one went even better than his outstanding April start against the Angels.

In this 5-1 win, Duffy punched out 10, while allowing just three hits and a pair of walks. Against a team that ended up reaching the American League Championship Series, Duffy showed over seven innings how he can be among the league’s best when on his game.

Whit Merrifield on May 29 vs. Tigers

In case you had forgotten, this list isn’t just meant for great pitching performances. That’s how bad the Kansas City Royals offense was through the first few months.

Merrifield makes the first appearance for an offensive player with his great showing in a 10-7 loss to Detroit. The second baseman finished 3 for 4 with three runs and two RBI. All three of his hits went for extra bases—one double, one triple and one home run.

Eric Skoglund on May 30 vs. Tigers

The following night, the Royals got the better of the Tigers. Once again, the victory came courtesy of a stellar pitching performance. This one came from the unlikeliest of sources.

Rookie Eric Skoglund made his MLB debut and promptly befuddled Detroit over 6 1/3 scoreless frames. His five strikeouts, two hits allowed and one walk weren’t the most impressive numbers of the season. But given the circumstances, it might have been the best individual performance of the year.

July’s Top Performances

As you will notice below, the offense carried its success from June into July. Despite a few rough games on either side of the All-Star break, the month as a whole proved another major success.

Buoyed by a nine-game winning streak late in July, the Kansas City Royals entered August with a 55-49 record and a 2.5-game lead over Seattle and Tampa Bay for the second Wild Card spot.

Merrifield on July 2 vs. Twins

Merrifield makes the list for the second time. The first time came from his power (three extra-base hits); this one is due to his speed. The man who finished the year as the AL’s stolen base leader swiped three bags in this game.

He finished 3 for 5, including a double, with one run and one RBI. Those aren’t overly flashy numbers for a 6-2 win, but the three steals were easily a season-high, considering it was one of only two multi-steal games for Merrifield.

Alex Gordon on July 21 vs. White Sox

It (almost) goes without saying that Alex Gordon suffered another largely disappointing season after signing a massive contract after the 2015 season. This went down as arguably his best game of the season, which seems out-of-place since September was his only decent month.

In a narrow 7-6 win, Gordon helped keep the winning streak alive with a 3-for-4 performance. The left fielder doubled, walked and scored once. It was one of three times in 2017 that he drove in three runs in a game.

Moustakas on July 22 vs. White Sox

A night after Gordon helped extend the winning run to three games, Moustakas homered twice in pushing it to four. His first broke a 2-2 tie; his second finished the scoring in the 7-2 win.

He didn’t contribute the most robust statline ever, finishing 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI. All he really did was hit two solo home runs. But given the timing of his performance (the midst of a massive winning streak) and his chase for history, it was a crucial showing.

Eric Hosmer on July 26 at Tigers

This will go down as one of the greatest single performances in Kansas City Royals history. It’s probably a disservice to Eric Hosmer that it took until this point for him to appear on this list. However, his second half of the season far exceeded his first. Plus this performance kind of puts all others to shame.

On a night when the Royals thrashed the Tigers to the tune of 16-2, Hosmer finished 5 for 6 with five runs scored and six RBI. Kansas City entered the seventh inning with just a 4-1 lead. Hosmer wound up finishing off a nine-run inning with a grand slam.

August’s Top Performances

Here’s the start of the swoon. The number of great performances in August and September were so limited, we included multiple ones from the same game on both slides. That’s how rough the final two months of the season were.

Having entered August with a playoff spot to lose, the Kansas City Royals went ahead and did that with a gut-wrenching 10-18 record.

Melky Cabrera on Aug. 6 vs. Mariners

In the early days of the trade that brought Melky Cabrera over from the White Sox, the deal seemed like quite the steal. As time wore on, bringing Cabrera back to Kansas City proved to benefit no one. Even still, the trade went better than any other Dayton Moore made during the 2017 season or the offseason prior.

This proved to be Cabrera’s best game in a Kansas City Royals uniform—this time around. After having nine games with three-plus hits in Chicago, Cabrera managed just five such games in his time with Kansas City. This was one of them, as he finished 3 for 4, including a double and a home run, with a run scored and four RBI.

Jakob Junis on Aug. 6 vs. Mariners

With Cabrera carrying the offensive load, Jakob Junis turned in one of the top pitching performances of the season on Aug. 6. The first pitching performance to make this list since early June—and the last to appear, this seemed to be a pivotal game at the time with the Royals clinging to a postseason bid after a doubleheader split.

Following a tough 8-7 loss in the opener, Junis hurled eight innings of one-run ball to lead the team to a 9-1 victory. He struck out seven while walking none and allowed just four hits. It was a sign of things to come for the rookie sensation.

Cam Gallagher on Aug. 14 at Athletics

Since he was not a regular starter during the second half, Cam Gallagher didn’t qualify as a must-have on this list. He just did enough on Aug. 14 to earn a spot, as the backup catcher had a night to remember in Oakland.

Gallagher had a solid overall game, finishing 2 for 3 with a double and a walk. But his biggest moment came in the sixth inning. That’s when we launched his first career home run—a grand slam, no less—that sent the Royals to a 6-2 win. It also earned a man named Tim Brown $25,000 as part of the Sonic Slam Inning promotion.

Hosmer on Aug. 23 vs. Rockies

This is another instance of a player having a mammoth home run overshadow a stellar overall game. It’s just not fair. Oh well, might as well skip ahead to the good stuff.

With the Kansas City Royals down 4-3 against former closer Greg Holland, Hosmer crushed a walk-off home run to right field at Kauffman Stadium. The moment capped a night in which Hosmer finished 3 for 4 with a walk, run scored and four RBI. It also sent players and fans alike into a delirium that unfortunately would not be replicated the rest of the season.

September’s Top Performances

Somewhat remarkably, the Kansas City Royals went 15-14 in the final full month of the season. However, we’re lumping the finale on Oct. 1 in with September here, meaning the team went .500 after its horrendous August.

Even with that somewhat misleading record, the Royals turned in few notable performances in the final weeks of the season. Granted Moustakas and Gordon each hit record-breaking home runs, but overall outstanding individual performances were hard to come by.

Alcides Escobar on Sept. 6 at Tigers

We struggled mightily to come up with a good game for Alcides Escobar. This will have to do. It’s his only four-hit game of the season, so it’s not the worst selection.

Escobar’s contribution didn’t exactly prove vital to the win, considering it came by a 13-2 margin. But it didn’t hurt for him to double, triple, score twice and drive in a run.

Perez on Sept. 6 at Tigers

As mentioned before, the number of quality performances was so lacking that we had two from the same game. Ironically, it happened exactly one month after the other instance. Instead of a blowout win at home against Seattle, this happened in a road win over Detroit.

This was one of two multi-homer games Perez had on the season. He finished the game 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice and drove in three.

Brandon Moss on Sept. 12 vs. White Sox

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Another player who didn’t have the best season, Brandon Moss showed power in a few games this year. He hit a pair of homers in two separate games. This wasn’t one of those games. However, it was one of three in which he drove in four runs.

In this instance, he did it all on one swing of the bat. Moss cranked a first-inning grand slam that gave the Kansas City Royals all the offense they needed in a 4-3 victory. For good measure, the designated hitter finished 2 for 2 with a walk.

Merrifield on Sept. 20 at Blue Jays

Moustakas stole the headlines in this 15-5 blowout win, as he broke the franchise’s long-standing home run mark with his 37th of the season. Merrifield, though, had a better game. Good enough to grab the final spot on our list, in fact.

He wound up up 3 for 5 with three runs scored. Like Moustakas, Merrifield also homered in the win north of the border. He added two RBI and two stolen bases to fill out his statline. At least we have more great games from Merrifield to look forward to in 2018.

Next: Early Look at Royals 2018 Schedule

So fans, what was your favorite individual performance of the season? Let us know in the comments or on social media.