KC Royals beat should go on despite rough Minnesota night

The KC Royals bore little resemblance Monday night to the team that, with 42 games now left on the schedule, has already won nine more times than it did all of last year and has a playoff berth within its grasp.

Opening a critical three-game series with Minnesota at Target Field, where only Salvador Perez seems to consistently play well, the Royals found themselves treated inhospitably and lost 8-3. The club teased its fans with the two-run lead it built in the first two innings and with the home run Bobby Witt clubbed in his first at-bat. And starter Brady Singer struck out nine in five innings.

Unfortunately, those were the only real reminders of just how good this club can be, and how much better it is than the 106-loss 2023 team.

The KC Royals had a truly bad night at Target Field

In most respects, Monday's game was a lesson in how, if repeated, to imperil legitimate playoff expectations. A good second inning suddenly turned stunningly bad ripped away the luster of Singer's nine strikeouts in five frames, a total one short of the season-high it took him seven innings to achieve March 31 against these same Twins. In that awful second, and after he'd disposed of Minnesota's first two batters, Singer did these things in succession before getting the third out: gave up a walk, a single, a run-scoring single, a three-run home run, another single, and a two-run homer.

The mess Singer made of things gave the Twins a 6-2 lead; the Royals couldn't score again until the sixth, and the two runs Carlos Hernández gave Minnesota in the seventh put the contest away.

And while the indescribably good Witt had that early home run, the Royals' other big guns, Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino, managed only a single in their eight collective at-bats. And somewhat ironically, former KC reliever Scott Blewett, who the Twins brought back to the majors just days ago, closed out the Royals by retiring them in order in the ninth.

In short, Monday evening's tilt was ugly.

But not crushing.

Reasons for much optimism remain.

It's not hand-wringing time in Kansas City

Among the good things the Royals have proven this season is that they don't give up. Their commendable season-long resilience is a product of themselves, their collective one-game-at-a-time approach, and the careful roster retooling general manager J.J. Picollo so successfully accomplished over the winter. It should serve them well down the stretch.

Perez continues to prove wrong those who believed last season, and into the offseason, that he was done, or so close to it that the Royals should have found somewhere else for him to play. He made another American League All-Star team last month; more importantly for present purposes, though, is that he's slashing .280/.340/.473 with 21 homers, 78 RBI, and is playing well behind the plate and at first base.

If last night's game had been the season's last, he'd finish with the second-highest full season batting average, fourth-best RBI total and OBP, and fifth highest number of homers of his 13-year big league career. And he shows no significant signs of letting up.

The starting rotation, so inconsistent for so many seasons but so improved this year, is still getting the job done. Only Seattle's and Philadelphia's starters have better ERAs than Kansas City's 3.59, and only the Phillies, Yankees, and Orioles have reaped more wins from their starters. Royal ace Seth Lugo is one of five hurlers tied for the major league lead in wins (13), and his 2.72 ERA is the fourth lowest among big league starters. No regular KC starter has a losing record.

Then there's AL MVP candidate Witt and his major league-leading .347 average, 23 home runs, 88 RBI, 33 doubles, 11 triples, and 25 steals. Enough said.

And the shaky bullpen? It still needs improvement but, as strange as it may seem, it hasn't kept the club out of the playoff race, a tight contest that entering Tuesday finds the Royals two games ahead of Boston in the fight for the final AL Wild Card, trailing Minnesota by 1.5 games for the second Wild Card and by the same margin for second place in the AL Central, and trailing first-place Cleveland by a not insurmountable five games.

So, little other than one game was lost in Minnesota Monday night. Things are far, far from over.

And the Royals, a good club, are right in the thick of it all.

More from Kings of Kauffman