Low-scoring loss serves as difficult reminder of KC Royals' struggles with RISP

The Kansas City Royals put forth their best effort to right the ship this week, turning a six-game losing streak last week into a four-game winning streak entering Saturday’s contest in San Diego.

At the heart of their struggles a week ago was their offense, including their inability to done when runners in scoring position. Star first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino would even describe the issue as something that was “becoming a weight” on the lineup according to MLB.com's Anne Rogers after their sweep to the New York Yankees.

However, after scoring 22 runs throughout that four-game winning streak, those issues started to become a lot less noticeable, as good offensive showings can cover up a lineup’s shortcomings.

After having said winning streak snapped though on Saturday night via a 5-1 defeat, the low scoring outing really brought their issues with RISP back into the light.

KC Royals continue to struggle to cash-in with RISP

Entering Saturday's game, the Royals ranked near the bottom of the league across the board when it came to hitting with RISP. They sat 26th in both AVG and RBI and 30th in both OPS and wRC+.

While their recent winning streak put Royals fans at ease a bit, it definitely wasn't long enough constitute a complete shift away from worrying about this team's offensive issues. And Saturday only proved bettering this offense needs to be the focus in the coming weeks.

The first instance where the Royals had runners in scoring position came after John Rave cashed in Drew Waters from first base with an RBI double, putting Rave in a favorable position with the top of the order coming up. However, Jonathan India would pop out to the catcher, then Bobby Witt Jr. would only be able to advance Rave to third on the ground out. Maikel Garcia would end up walking and stealing second to give Pasquantino a chance with runners on both second and third, but he could only muster a groundout to end the inning.

Then come the top of the fourth, after Jac Caglianone was hit by a pitch and Mark Canha would single right after him, both Waters and Rave would would be retired immediately afterwards.

After the Padres would break this game open in the bottom of the seventh - via a three-run shot by Fernando Tatis Jr. - Kansas City had a prime opportunity to strike back in the top of the eighth. Witt would double right off the hop with the remainder of the heart of the order in Garcia, Pasquantino and Salvador Perez due up. But Garcia would strike out swinging, Pasquantino would ground out once again and Perez could only muster a shallow flyball out to end the top of the frame.

Three prime opportunities - two of which came when the game was still within a run - all of which were squandered.

Time will tell whether this was a blip in the radar from a new reality that that four-game win streak may have established, or whether in fact that win streak turned out to be all but a mirage in what's been a poor offensive season all around for the Royals.

Given the limited sample size of good offensive performances the Royals faithful have seen from this team, compared to the amount of nights like Saturday they've had throughout the season, the latter seems more likely.

This makes recent suggestions from insiders to go after big bats on the trade market makes all the more sense - especially the ones that could help address this key issue of cashing in with runners in scoring position.

The Royals will have the opportunity to prove that their progress from earlier this week has not been undone in Sunday afternoon's rubber match against the Padres at 3:10 p.m. CT.