3 reasons why Thursday's game should concern the KC Royals

A win is a win, and always beats the alternative. But the 3-2 victory the KC Royals eked out Thursday afternoon in Oakland, doesn't merit much celebration beyond that.

Yes, the Royals needed this one. Defeating the A's allowed them to head for three weekend games at Texas still unswept by any club this season and, combined with Minnesota's loss to Tampa Bay, moved them back into second place in the American League Central.

And yes, Seth Lugo pitched well enough to post what would have been a major league-best 11th win — he gave Kansas City 6.2 eight strikeout innings, but forfeited his chance for the pitching victory by surrendering a two-run game-tying homer to Zack Gelof before departing with the score knotted at 2 in the seventh.

So, why should the Royals be concerned? For these three reasons...

Kansas City's offense remained unbalanced

The Royals certainly aren't plagued by the one of the worst offenses in baseball. They have the American League's fifth-highest average (.248), seventh-highest OBP (.311), and sixth-best SLG (404). They're tied for third in runs scored (360), have the third-most RBI (349), are ranked sixth in hits (630) and third in doubles (133), and have the second-most triples (19).

But Kansas City's is not an offense evenly spread or well-balanced. Lucky to have Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez, the club burdens them with too much of the load, and probably will until Michael Massey returns from his latest back issue, Hunter Renfroe gets back from his injury and proves his recent pre-bone bruise good hitting wasn't just a passing thing, Vinnie Pasquantino's bat gets a bit better, and the Royals somehow find a way to squeeze some real offense out of their soft-hitting outfield.

The imbalance showed itself again Thursday. Kansas City beat the A's for one primary reason only — two Royals combined to hit three solo home runs, none of which the club could have won without. Freddy Fermin belted two of those homers and Witt the other. The nine other Royals who appeared at the plate combined for just three hits.

Kansas City won't win a slew of games that way.

James McArthur wasn't sharp again

Will Smith seemed to be Kansas City's closer when the season started. But his early struggles thrust McArthur into the role; the second-year Royal looked well-suited for it when, at the end of April, he'd saved seven games and was 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA.

May was different. McArthur did save four more games, but he also blew three, suffered two losses, and gave up 12 runs (two unearned) in 10 innings.

June has been better, but McArthur still has work to do. He entered Thursday's game with a 3.60 ERA for the month, not an ideal mark for a closer, and flirted too closely with increasing it after relieving Lugo with the game tied, one runner on, and two away in the seventh. Fortunately, the double he yielded to Abraham Toro went for naught when second baseman Adam Frazier took Dairon Blanco's throw from right field and gunned down Kyle McCann at the plate.

Had McCann scored, of course, his run would have been charged to Lugo with no effect on McArthur's ERA. But after McArthur picked Max Schuemann off after walking him to begin the eighth and JJ Bleday grounded out, he walked Miguel Andujar, who moved around to third on Brent Rooker's single. All that spurred a pitching change by manager Matt Quatraro; Ángel Zerpa replaced McArthur and induced a force out to end the threat.

It wasn't a save situation for McArthur. Nevertheless, it turned out to be the kind of shaky performance he needs to avoid if he's going to be the club's closer.