Dream night reaffirms Dairon Blanco's value to KC Royals

Omar Infante, signed to a free agent deal by the KC Royals just days before Christmas in 2013, had a decent first season in Kansas City. He helped the club to the 2014 World Series, its first postseason appearance since it won the 1985 Fall Classic.

The following season wasn't as kind to Infante. He slumped at the plate, drew regular criticism from fans, and found himself playing less down the stretch as the Royals closed in on their second straight trip to the postseason.

But just a week before the club secured the American League Central Division title from which it launched its journey to the World Series title, Infante gave himself a career-type game against Cleveland. Batting seventh in manager Ned Yost's lineup, Infanta uncharacteristically went 3-for-4 with a homer, double, and single ... and drove in a remarkable seven runs, a total that ended up constituting almost an even sixth of his total RBI for the season.

Fast forward to last night, exactly one month shy of nine years since Infante exploded against Cleveland, and consider the dramatic Saturday exploits of Royals outfielder-pinch runner Dairon Blanco.

Dairon Blanco had a dream night at the plate for the KC Royals

Entering Kansas City's game against Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park, no Royal since Infante had knocked in seven runs in a single game. But Blanco, who probably prefers to play every day but doesn't — manager Matt Quatraro deploys him primarily as a pinch runner and for late-game defensive help in the outfield — he exploited a rare starting opportunity and, in dream fashion, ended that high-RBI drought.

He started in the second inning when, in his first at-bat of the night, he hammered his second home run of the season, a shot to center that scored Freddy Fermin and gave KC a 3-0 lead.

Several minutes later, Blanco spearheaded the Royals' game-busting, seven-run third inning by blasting a grand slam to left center that put his club up 9-0.

He capped his 3-for-5 performance the very next inning when he singled home Fermin to give Kansas City the 11th run of its 13-1 victory.

Somewhat surprising is the best way to describe Blanco's blockbuster night. He now has three homers for the year, a total that matches the career total he brought into this season. He was batting only .227 coming into the contest. And those seven RBI exceeded by two the amount with which he started the game.

Importantly, and despite the fact he may never have another game quite like it, Saturday's contest reaffirmed Blanco's value to this team. His now-.245 average isn't stellar, but he's a capable hitter the Royals can count on — he hit .258 with a 108 OPS+ and 107 wRC+ last year.

He's also more than serviceable in the outfield, which explains why he plays there during the late innings of important games and hasn't made an error in 270 innings.

And Blanco's prowess on the basepaths goes almost without saying. He's Quatraro's go-to when the Royals need a stolen base (with 21 steals so far this year, he'll almost certainly eclipse by season's end the 24-swipe career-high he established last year) — or they're hunting a score from second (or even first) in key situations.

Simply put, and as he re-emphasized Saturday, Blanco continues to prove his value to the Kansas City organization.

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