Kansas City Royals: Royals walk-off on Reds 3-2, remain undefeated

Just one day removed from putting up 14 runs against the Mariners, the Kansas City Royals continued their undefeated spring by walking off on the Reds, 3-2. Read below for what went right, what went wrong and what’s up next for the Boys in Blue. 

Positives

First and foremost, how about the moment of a lifetime for Humberto Arteaga. Albeit in Spring Training, a walk-off hit is still an amazing feeling. The hit in the bottom of the 9th inning was one of two on the day for Arteaga.

Esky Magic was alive and well, as Alcides Escobar collected a pair of hits in three at-bats today. Due to the essence of ‘Esky Magic,’ we had to include it.

Cody Asche got on base twice, including a walk and collected an RBI. We’ll address his fielding mishap later in the article, though.

Eric Skoglund was great after taking the mound for the first pitch of the game. He allowed just one hit and the run he surrendered was unearned.

Skoglund’s supporting cast was, in general, fantastic. The quartet of Miguel Almonte, Kevin Lenik, Glenn Sparkman and Andres Machado combined for six innings of shutout baseball.

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Negatives

Although Asche did produce at the plate, he committed the lone error of the game, helping make it a bit closer than it needed to be.

The entire pitching staff as a whole was phenomenal throughout the game, but left-hander Foster Griffin did struggle a tad bit. Griffin allowed three hits and a run in one inning of work.

Alex Gordon, Jorge Soler, and Bubba Starling combined to go 0-for-6 at the plate today with a strikeout each.

In addition to the above players struggling to hit, Adalberto Mondesi and Nicky Lopez each went 0-for-2 on the day as well.

Final Thoughts

It wasn’t the prettiest of performances but overall, the W is all that matters. Some great pitching and timely hitting came through when needed the most and the Royals avoided their first loss of the spring again. Although in the past few recaps I’ve stressed not taking a single Spring Training game’s results too serious, it’s still great to see “4-0” next to the Royals’ record. While we know it’s not going to last, it’s something to enjoy nonetheless.

Next: It’s always about ‘The Process’

Tomorrow, the Royals will square off against the Mariners at the Peoria Sports Complex. First pitch is scheduled to be at 2:10 CST. You’ll be able to find both a preview and a recap right here at Kings of Kauffman.