Kansas City Royals: Pitching implodes in 13-5 loss vs. SD

Heading into Friday undefeated in Spring Training play, Kansas City Royals fans expected their team to continue the streak vs the Padres. Unfortunately, San Diego and old friend Eric Hosmer had other plans. Read below for what went right, what went wrong and what’s up next. 

Positives

“Two-hit Whit” Merrifield continued to live up to his nickname. He’s now batting .571 this spring.

In addition to Merrifield continuing his great Spring Training, both Salvador Perez and Jorge Bonifacio homered in today’s game. Perez and Bonifacio are batting .545 and .385, respectively since Spring Training commenced.

Despite every other Royals pitcher in the game surrendering at least two runs each, Scott Blewett tossed a scoreless 8th inning.

Negatives

San Diego got to starter Danny Duffy early and often. In his first start of the spring, Duffy allowed just one hit but walked two batters and surrendered a pair of runs on a second-inning double by Christian Villanueva.

Outside of Duffy, the trio of Trevor Oaks, Scott Barlow, and Sam Gaviglio was pummelled for 18 hits and 11 runs scored. Barlow tossed two balls that were promptly knocked out of the park in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Albeit he only received one at-bat, Alex Gordon went hitless today, causing his average to drop to .222 through six games.

Although it’s not super important, old friend Eric Hosmer registered a hit and drove in a run today.

Final Thoughts

This game was one to forget. Not only did the hitters outside of Merrifield, Perez, and Bonifacio struggle throughout the entire game, but every pitcher not named Scott Blewett was ambushed. Keep in mind, it’s just Spring Training. Reserves won’t see this much playing time in April and today’s bullpen is not going to be the same group once the season starts. It’s important to keep a level head and not buy too much into wins or losses. No one will remember this game in a few weeks.

Next: Royals sign Lucas Duda

Tomorrow, the Kansas City Royals head back to Surprise for an AL Central preview game against the White Sox. First pitch will commence at 2:05 PM CST. You’ll be able to find both a preview and a recap right here at Kings of Kauffman.