3 takeaways from surprising KC Royals series win

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The KC Royals closed out their weekend series with Houston Sunday looking much like they have all season. Another shaky Jordan Lyles start, some bad bullpen work, and a game-long lack of hitting contributed to a one-sided 7-1 defeat that left the Royals 48-102 and just five losses short of breaking the franchise record.

This latest defeat came in stark contrast to the series' first two games, contests narrowly won by the Royals over an excellent Houston club that, thanks to poor weekends by second-place Texas and third-place Seattle (both suffered road sweeps), still leads the American League West with two weeks left to play.

The good of the series for Kansas City actually outweighed the bad. Friday's 4-2 victory and Saturday's 10-8 triumph gave the Royals their second straight series win — they took two of three from the White Sox in Chicago before returning home to host the Astros — and surprisingly beating a top contender twice is never bad.

So, what, among other things, can fans take away from the weekend?

KC Royals rookie Logan Porter could be fun to watch down the stretch

Porter, up until a few days ago the organization's primary Triple-A catcher whose long wait for a first call to the majors finally came last Monday, went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs when he made his big league debut in Chicago Tuesday. But he sat out Wednesday's and Friday's games (KC had Thursday off) and wasn't in manager Matt Quatraro's Saturday evening lineup.

But he responded well after a fifth-inning foul ball to the mask forced Salvador Perez out of that night's game. Porter seemed to handle KC pitchers well and belted his first big league home run, a solo blast to left off Joel Kuhnel, in the eighth to help the Royals to their 10-8 win. After going 1-for-3 Sunday, he's 4-for10 as a Royal.

Fans should see plenty of Porter over Kansas City's final dozen games. Although MLB.com KC beat writer Anne Rogers reports Perez wasn't concussed, it's not clear how soon he'll return; when he does, and with MJ Melendez rarely catching anymore, Porter will get whatever work behind the plate Perez doesn't. And he might even get a turn or two at DH.

Next takeaway...

New KC Royals starting pitcher Cole Ragans shows he's human after all

Ragans, part of the return from Texas in the June trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Rangers, reported to Triple-A Omaha after that deal and didn't join the Royals until mid-July. He blazed through August with a 3-1 record, a 1.72 ERA, and 53 strikeouts in 36.2 innings, and held opponents scoreless in three of his six starts. His stellar month spurred widespread social media speculation that he'd be the club's presumptive ace for next season.

Ragans opened this month with six scoreless innings against the White Sox; the effort improved his Kansas City record to 4-1, and his overall season to 6-4. He pitched decently against Toronto last weekend (two runs and six strikeouts in 5.2 innings).

But things turned a bit unsightly for Ragans against Houston Saturday night — after retiring the Astros in order in the first and second innings, he worked out of a bases-loaded scare in the third and, after putting Houston down 1-2-3 in the fourth, gave up three runs in the fifth when he yielded a homer, triple, two singles, and a wild pitch.

Ragans rebounded with a three-strikeout sixth, but left without getting an out in the seventh after Jeremy Peña walked and Mauricio Dubón singled. Reliever Collin Snider gave up a game-tying three-run homer to Jose Altuve, with two of the runs charged to Ragans.

Especially considering he didn't cough up Altuve's homer, and the ever-curious scoring rule that tagged him with two of the three runs Houston plated after he left the game, Ragans' night wasn't a total disaster. But it proved he can be good and not-so-good in the same outing, and that it might not be quite time to proclaim him the staff ace going into next season.

And the final takeaway...

Their struggles continued for two KC Royals pitchers Sunday afternoon

Their ongoing battles with pitching in general didn't end for Jordan Lyles and Brad Keller in Sunday's KC-Houston series finale.

Lyles, making his 29th start of the campaign, and despite striking out six and walking only one in six innings, gave the Astros four runs on six hits, including a pair of home runs that tied him with Darrell May's 38 (2004) for the most surrendered by a Royal in a single season. Those four runs were more than enough to secure Houston's 7-1 win and spoil a series sweep for Kansas City.

The loss also gave Lyles a major league-leading 17. The club record is 19. His ERA is now 6.43, which also just happens to be the majors' worst, and he has only four wins.

Keller, pitching in a big league game for only the second time since a shoulder injury sidelined him in late May, was worse. By the time his seven-batter work in the ninth was done, he'd handed Houston three runs, walked three, including a bases-loaded pass to Yordan Alvarez, and given up a triple to Jake Meyers (some might argue MJ Melendez misplayed the ball), and a two-run single to Altuve.

The poor one-frame appearance increased Keller's ERA to 4.76; only in last Tuesday's one-inning stint against the White Sox has he enjoyed a scoreless outing this year. He's now 3-4 in 10 games.

So it is that their Sunday performances did nothing to change our recent opinion that the Royals should cut Lyles and Keller loose after the season.

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