Latest KC Royals bullpen additions make an immediate impact despite another loss

Another day, another frustrating loss for the Kansas City Royals who, after losing 4-2 the New York Yankees, have now dropped the series and face a sweep on Wednesday night.

And this loss was particularly painful for a couple of reasons.

It overshadowed the steps in the right direction that multiple struggling bats took, including MJ Melendez, who launched his first homer of the year in the third inning.

It also saw some traditionally more reliable pieces to this roster be the main reason for the loss. Michael Wacha was cruising before struggling with walks and leaving the game in the sixth with the bases loaded. Then Ángel Zerpa, who'd been rolling in his last three outings, seemingly erased a lot of that recent progress he'd made by issuing a bases loaded walk and then surrendering a bases-clearing double to Jasson Domínguez.

However, as much as this loss may sting in a lot of ways, there are some silver linings to take from this one, with the biggest being the performances they got from two relievers, who were both in Triple-A Omaha this time last week, in Steven Cruz and Evan Sisk.

Latest KC Royals bullpen additions make an immediate impact

Zerpa came back in for the bottom of the seventh, after the sixth inning blow-up, and recorded the first out before handing the ball off to Cruz.

While it may've started mildly rocky for the 25-year-old righty, after surrendering walks to both Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, he quickly managed to settle down, getting Paul Goldschmidt to ground out and then striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. Getting out of an inning with four household names in MLB in front of you makes for a good day the office all around.

This wasn't Cruz's first quality outing of late either. Since being called up on April 11 after the injury to Hunter Harvey, Cruz has made three appearances, including tonight, each of which have been both scoreless and hitless outings, with the three walks being the only blemishes on his 2 1/3 innings of work.

Then, come the eighth inning, it was Evan Sisk's time to shine, as the long-time minor leaguer finally got his first taste of big league baseball after being called up to Royals on April 13 after Sam Long hit the IL.

And the 27-year-old lefty made his presence known. Despite giving up a single and a walk in the inning, Sisk would get out of it unscathed, striking out three in process.

Obviously a lot of things went wrong for Kansas City in this one, and a loss is never easy to stomach. However, with a team scuffling as much as the Royals have been of late, you have to take the small victories when you can get them.

And given the state of some of the arms in the bullpen, like Chris Stratton and his 8.59 ERA or Sam Long (when healthy) with his 12.86 ERA, having reliable depth arms to call upon like Cruz and Sisk are that much more important as the season rages on.