Kansas City Royals: Best Individual 2017 Game Performances

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.