KC Royals: 3 takeaways from the Detroit series sweep

The KC Royals pulled off an important sweep and now know even better where the issues are.

The KC Royals managed to do something they haven’t done since 1999. They pulled off a four-game sweep on the road. It’s even better that they did this against an AL Central rival, putting more space between them and the bottom of the pack Tigers.

They move on to a quick two-game series with the Pirates before seeing a long stretch against the AL Central. These next few weeks will be important if the Royals want to continue sitting in first place and push themselves even closer to the postseason.

Thankfully, getting further into the season is also showing the Royals what is working and what isn’t. With each series, Kansas City can look back to see what the takeaways were.

The young bullpen arms are coming through when needed

When the Royals won the World Series in 2015, one of the most important groups in the organization was the bullpen. They shut games down quickly and the Royals seem to be looking for that strategy again.

There is a mix of veteran and young arms pitching in relief in 2021 but it became apparent in the series with Detroit that Matheny is looking towards the younger and more inexperienced arms to help through the rough points.

The bullpen gave up no runs in the four-game series and some of the biggest contributors were the younger pitchers, Jake Brentz, Josh Staumont, Scott Barlow, and Kyle Zimmer.

Zimmer and Barlow each pitched 2 scoreless innings and recorded 3 strikeouts and Brentz and Staumont each pitched 3 scoreless innings with Brentz striking out 5 and Staumont 4 along with recording 2 saves.

These players are taking charge and helping to lead the pitching staff even though there are plenty of veterans pitching alongside them. Mike Matheny is throwing them into tough situations and they are rewarding him with outstanding performance.

The Royals will need good relievers if they want to make it to the postseason and these four young arms look to be the future of the bullpen in Kansas City.

The KC Royals are seeing just enough offense to win, but their luck may run out if something doesn’t spark.

The Royals aren’t always known for making a lot of noise with their bats and so far that trend is continuing this season. The issue is that they have the pieces to actually create some good offense.

There have been some decent starts from players like Salvador Perez, Whit Merrifield, Nicky Lopez, and Michael Taylor, but it seems the offense is only coming on an as-needed basis.

They are doing exactly what is needed to win games. That’s great, but it may not hold up for the rest of the season.

The Royals are about to enter a long stretch where they will see multiple games against Cleveland and Chicago, two teams that they will be fighting with for the division lead. If they can’t turn the offense on, these teams may pass them up.

In recent games, Carlos Santana, Andrew Benintendi, Jorge Soler, and Hunter Dozier have all seen some isolated success, but more is needed.

Soler and Dozier both only recorded two hits throughout the four-game series in Detroit. While everyone else seems to be finding some sort of rhythm, these two often look a bit lost at the plate still.

There is time for them to turn things around, but they are important pieces of the Royals offense that need to start getting in good hits. They can both provide power and they both have the ability to knock in runs. They could be the difference between the Royals holding the lead or losing it to another AL Central Rival.

Two games against Detroit were won by one run. It’s important to see the Royals winning in tough situations and knowing that the bullpen can help to keep the game under control, but continuing to add some padding with a few more runs would go a long way.