KC Royals finally feel the weight of losing Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo to the IL

After the Kansas City Royals lost their two All-Stars in the rotation in Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo to the IL recently, the Royals faced questions with how they'd handle their absences.

While Noah Cameron accounted for one of the spots, the final rotation position was left up to the bullpen to manage.

And while last Wednesday's outing against San Francisco saw the 'pen do the job in a 8-4 victory, their next time up on Tuesday did not reap the same rewards.

Rough bullpen day makes KC Royals feel the weight of losing Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo

It started with Daniel Lynch IV, who gave them some length going 2.2 innings, giving up one earned run on three hits and one walk while striking out four. The stat line looked respectable enough, but he still had the Royals playing from behind by the time they took to the plate in the second.

Then after reclaiming the lead, Jonathan Bowlan surrendered it in the fourth,
giving up the tying run via an Elly De La Cruz solo homer. Overall, like Lynch, it was another respectable enough outing, as he went 1.1 innings with the only blunder being the home run.

Then it was Evan Sisk for the fifth, and this is where Kansas City ran into their first bad outing after he only managed to record just one, loading the bases in the process. Luckily for everyone though, Taylor Clarke induced the inning-ending double-play to get them out of the frame unscathed.

Clarke however would run into trouble the following inning after De La Cruz belted his second solo shot of the game. Again though, like the bulk of those that came before him in this one, Clarke was was solid, as the solo-shot was the only mistake he'd make. His final line - 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.

John Schreiber would be next, and this is where the Royals saw the first real blowup, as he went 0.1 ininings and was on the hook for three earned runs. Angel Zerpa limited the damage to just those three runs in the eighth, recording the next two outs.

Steven Cruz would surrender an earned run on two hits in the ninth to bring the score up to it's concluding state of 7-2.

Other than Sisk and Schreiber, there were no extremely bad outings, but when you string a group of average outings together, they can result in one overall bad day at the office.

Royals fans are familiar with the Cy Young-caliber work that Ragans and Lugo are capable of when healthy, and on a night like this, they really could've used one of those outings they've become known for, instead of what they ended up with on Tuesday.

For the sake of this struggling Royals squad, the hope will be that their return to the staff will come sooner rather than later.