Kansas City Royals: Another rough day in 9-5 loss vs. CWS

After suffering their first loss of Spring Training at the hands of the Padres, the Kansas City Royals looked to get back on track today against Chicago. Sadly, the pitching staff allowed nine White Sox to cross the plate and your final score was 9-5. 

Positives

The shortcomings Ian Kennedy had today will be addressed later, but let’s begin with what he did well. Five strikeouts in two innings is impressive, no matter how the cookie crumbles.

Despite a few other pitchers struggling immensely, the bullpen quartet of Kelvin Herrera, Brandon Maurer, Tim Hill and Kevin McCarthy was excellent. Those arms combined for four scoreless innings, with each pitcher allowing just one hit.

Salvador Perez continued his hot spring with a 3rd-inning double. The All-Star catcher is batting an even .500 in Spring Training.

Bubba Starling went 1-for-1 with a single and a walk. It’s a noteworthy occurrence any time he has a solid game.

Negatives

Although five strikeouts in two innings is great, Kennedy did surrender a pair of runs in the second inning. He had a mixed bag of a game.

Reliever Mike Broadway gave up a solo home run in the 8th-inning to Luis Alexander Basabe.

A throwing error in the 6th inning by infielder Jack Lopez opened the floodgates for Chicago. The White Sox scored six runs in the inning.

In addition to Lopez taking some of the blame for that inning, it made Brian Flynn look very bad as well. In all, Flynn pitched two innings, allowing eight hits and six unearned runs.

Despite some expecting Frank Schwindel to compete for the starting First Base job, he’s struggled to make any impact on the field. After going 0-for-3 today, he’s now hitting .077 this spring.

Final Thoughts

Sloppy game from both teams today. Four combined errors made this one very interesting. Without the critical 6th inning error by Lopez, perhaps the Royals could have pulled this one out. Regardless, there are many takeaways from today’s contest. Because we’re still early in the spring, the unproven young bucks will continue to receive plenty of second chances. As Spring Training unfolds, we should get a better idea of what the opening day roster will look like.

Following tomorrow’s contest, the team receives a well-deserved day off Monday. Due to there not being a game, we’ll have plenty of other content to keep your mind on baseball!

Next: Door May Not be Closed for a Moose Reunion

Tomorrow, the Kansas City Royals head to Goodyear Ballpark for a matchup against the Cincinnati Reds. 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.